A.n I own Nothing
This was the most requested arc that I write and adapt of 2020. Seriously, I've had readers PMing me for months asking if I was planning to write this or when it was coming out. Well, the wait is finally over and here it is. I have taken a darker tone to this arc, particularly when dealing with what Dr. Destany makes the Leauge see in their dreams.
Trigger warning: this chapter contains Child Abuse. I do not support or condone it in any way.
Please Review.
Batman was on a rooftop overlooking a large storage facility. There were three dome roofed warehouses in the compound and all the guards were either dead and covered in ash or out cold. Batman pulled out his binoculars and looked through them to see one of the warehouse doors was melted away.
As he was watching Alucard floated down and landed on the rooftop behind him.
"Your late," Batman said without turning.
"Apologies…I was assisting J'onn and Lantern rounding up some escaped prisoners…who had decided the best way to spend their newfound freedom was to rob every shop they passed. thus, trigging every alarm in the street and alerting us to their presence when you called," Alucard claimed and he walked over to the edge of the roof and looked down below "Who is inside?"
"Volcana and Firefly are in there,"
"And they are…"
"Volcana has fire-based abilities and Firefly relies on technology and a flame thrower," Batman explained "There here to get Firefly gear, we need to contain them at this facility before they escape,"
Alucard narrowed his eyes and took in the damage around the area. The gate and several other places had burn marks and holes, some of it was still red from the extreme heat. Alucard looked down at the fallen security guards, he could tell that the ones that were charred black were dead and he did not need to examine the body to know that he died by extreme heat.
"Go down there and distract them for 2 minutes," Batman instructed, taking Alucard's silence that he was waiting for Batman to explain the plan. Alucard turned his attention away from the dead and back to the Dark Knight "I'll back you up," Batman added.
Alucard nodded and he floated off the roof and landed on the pavement below. He glanced over his shoulder to see Batman disappear into the shadows. Alucard tracked him with his vampiric eyes for a moment and then focused his attention on the task at hand. He stepped forward and started walking towards the Wearhouse just as Firefly and Volcana came out.
Volcana was a young-looking woman with a dark crimson dress and very long red hair. Firefly was a tall male wearing a black and yellow accented high-tech suit of some kind, he had a bug-eyed helmet on and was holding a recently re-acquired gun.
"What the? Who's that guy?" Volcana asked.
"I think I read about him in the paper, he's the Justice League's new recruit," Firefly answered.
"Huh, well he's about to be a dead new recruit," she said and unleashed a massive stream of fire at Alucard. The flames hit him head-on and kept it burning for a minute before Volcana finally stopped.
She smirked, knowing that when the flames cleared, she would see the Charred remains of the man that stood there. However, when the flames died down, Alucard remained unharmed. Alucard raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything. He was not impressed.
"Smug basted, take this," Volcana said and unleashed another stream of fire at him, this time it was hotter. However, like before, Alucard remained unaffected.
"Babe, we should get out of here," Firefly stated and grabbed Volcana's arm.
"No," Volcana snapped and yanked her arm out of Firefly's grip "This asshole is mocking me,"
Firefly looked at Alucard and the vampire gave a small shrug. He had no clue how he could be mocking someone when he had not said anything.
"I…don't think he is, he's just standing there," Firefly responded.
"He is, look at him," Volcana demanded and pointed at Alucard.
"Yeah, I don't see it," Firefly claimed "look you can stay here if you want but I'm getting out of here before the Bat finds us,"
"I'm not going anywhere until I take this guy down," Volcana insisted "Now you can help me or leave,"
"Ugh fine," Firefly sighed and he aimed his fire gun at Alucard.
The two villains let out a massive stream of flame that combined just before it engulfing Alucard and creating a Firefly tornado pillar where he was standing. The pillar of fire shot up into the air and could be seen for miles.
"Got him," Firefly said.
"Finally," Volcana agreed "Served him right,"
However, their victory was short-lived, suddenly a snap of wind came from inside the pillar and the fire was immediately put out. Alucard was standing there, completely unharmed and no trace of the fire remained in the area.
"That's not…how is he completely unharmed?" Firefly panicked.
"Did I forget to mention…I am immune to fire?" Alucard said smugly.
"Oh, I get it, you thought you could capture us simply because our powers don't work on you?" Volcana accused "well don't think I can't fight without using my powers,"
"Capture? Oh no, you misunderstand…I am not here to capture you" Alucard claimed "I am the distraction,"
"Distraction?" Volcana asked.
Out from the shadows behind them, several small canisters flew out and landed on the ground by their feet. Firefly looked down and his face paled as he recognised those canisters.
"Oh, son of a…" he didn't get to finish the sentence as a pale white mist was unleashed and in seconds the two fire-based villains were frozen solid. Batman emerged from the shadows.
"Good teamwork," Batman stated.
"Oh yes, I stand in the literal fire and you watch from the safety of the shadows," Alucard respond.
"Your immune to extreme heat, I don't see the problem," Bantam claimed as he walked forward and placed power damping cuffs on the villains.
"So is superman,"
"Superman is busy dealing with Grundy and Copperhead with Hawk Girl and Flash,"
"Ah yes send Superman instead of the expert on magic and killing undead creatures of the night…very wise,"
"We don't kill," Batman warned in a very serious tone.
"Your Grundy is already dead…it doesn't count if he's died once,"
"So, if I killed you it wouldn't count?"
"Technically, I haven't died yet," Alucard pointed out "I'm only half-vampire remember,"
"Easy to forget sometimes," Batman mumbled. Alucard chose to ignore that comment, he looked in the direction of the street. He heard the sounds of sirens were coming from and saw flashing red and blue lights.
"Law enforcements are coming," Alucard claimed and he braced himself for the massive discomfort that it would bring.
A few moments later, police cars swarmed in and Alucard gritted his teeth at the loud noise. The police exited their cars and ran up to batman and Alucard.
"Hey thanks for the help, don't think we could have taken them down without you," the captain said.
Batman grunted in response and stepped back to let the local authorities do their job and take in the rouge supervillains. While they were doing that, Alucard could not help but notice that some of the police were staring at him and whispering to each other.
"Is that the new guy? The one who saved Metropolis a few days ago?" the first man said.
"I think it is. I had no idea he was going to be here," The second man answered.
"Yeah, and he's with Batman too, this is incredible,"
Alucard turned away with his eyes closed and refused to acknowledge the police. The sound of the sires was already giving him a headache and he had no wish to be viewed as an object or as someone who was placed upon a pedestal.
"Make sure you get them back to prison before they thaw," Batman instructed, he then turned to Alucard "We're leaving," he said and walked to the street where the Batmobile was parked. He got in and drove away without a word. Alucard floated into the air and flew off after him.
They headed further into the city to where Superman and Flash were handing over a now depowered and arrested Grundy and another escaped villain. Hawk Girl was nowhere in sight though.
"Where is Hawk Girl?" Alucard asked as he landed.
"Up there," Flash answered and pointed up at the sky "she's trying to get Copperhead to surrender,"
Alucard looked up in the air and saw that Hawk girl was hovering at least 50ft off the ground with a man dressed in a lizard-like costume. His hand's legs and tail were wrapped around Hawk girl keeping her arms bound to her side.
"What's she doing?" Batman asked as he got out of his car.
"Oh, Copperhead just caught her on a bad night," Flash joked.
"He took her hostage and demanded Hawk Girl fly her out of here, so she went straight up in the air," Superman explained.
"Then why is she still here?" Alucard asked confused.
"Copperhead has deadly venom in his bites," Flash answered "once it gets into your system you die in a matter of minutes. But with Hawk Girl being so high up, if he bites her now the fall will kill Copperhead,"
"I see…should I go and offer assistance?"
"No, let him come down on his own," Batman responded.
The League waited a few more minutes and before superman smiled and flew up to collect Copperhead, the villain finally having given up. With the man of steel carrying the villain back down to earth, since Copperhead would be unable to penetrate Superman's skin.
Once they were back on the ground, Copperhead allowed himself to be arrested and before he could be taken away Hawk Girl walked up to him and punched him in the face.
"That's for trying to kiss me, you ass," she said angrily.
"Kiss?" Alucard asked.
"it's what Copperhead calls his bite," Batman stated "His last kiss,"
Green Lantern and J'onn chose that moment to arrive and landed with the others.
"We got all the non-powered escapees rounded up and back to prison," he announced "is that all of them?"
"It is, I'm beat," Flash complained, "Why do all prison breakouts happen so close to each other?"
"With Copperhead, Grundy and Luminous now accounted for, all that's left was Volcana and firefly,"
"Alucard and I already got them," Batman answered.
"In that case let's call it a night, we've been dealing with prison breakouts for the last 4 days," Superman said "I don't know about you all but I could use a good night's rest,"
"Good Idea. No need to give me a ride back to the tower, I'm sleeping at home tonight," Flash said.
Batman touched his earpiece and spoke into it. "Batman to watchtower, we just rounded up the last of the escapees,"
"Not yet, according to the report. You're missing one, a Jon Dee," wonder woman's voice came through.
"Ughh…. another one," Flash moaned.
"Meta?" Superman asked. Touching his earpiece and getting in the conversation.
"No, regular criminal," Wonder Woman responded.
"What's he in for?" Flash asked.
"Weapons Smuggling," Wonder woman answered "According to his file he worked at Lex corp as night security and the police found him during a raid and arrested him,"
"Why?" Green Lantern spoke up.
"He was guarding smuggled weapons and Luthor hung him out to dry. Looks like it was a case of wrong place wrong time,"
"So, then…this Jon Dee didn't commit any crimes," Alucard said.
"Doesn't sound like it," Hawk Girl agreed "should we bring him in?"
"Yes," Batman stated.
"He did resist arrest and punch an officer…but he claims it was in self-defence," Wonder woman added "he's been denied Parole three times even though he has good behaviour,"
"Man, that sucks. My uncle's dad went to jail for a crime he didn't commit too," Flash sighed "He never got out either,"
"Get all the information you have on Jon Dee and send it to my computer," Batman instructed before he hung up.
Superman looked at the rest of the League and Batman. He could see his team was tired, even those with enhanced stamina like Hawk girl and J'onn looked exhausted. He could tell that Flash was running out of steam as he had slowed down signifying in the last fight. They were at their limit for now and Superman knew it.
"Diana…delay that. We're done for the night," Superman ordered into the coms.
Batman shot the man of steel a glare.
"We still have a prisoner on the loose, we won't be done until he's back behind bars," Batman insisted.
"Batman, we're not going to catch him tonight, time to head home," Superman advised.
"We can't rest while one of them is still loose," Batman insisted "the jobs not finished yet,"
"We got all the Metas with powers and the really bad ones are on their way back to locked up," Hawk Girl claimed "You heard Wonder Woman, this Dee guy was a model prisoner and he didn't deserve to be incarcerated, to begin with,"
"We need to catch him,"
"And we will. But we're all tired, you included,"
"So, I'm used to late nights,"
"But not 4 days in a row," Superman reminded "Your as burnt out as the rest of us,"
"I admit…even I would not mind a few hours in my coffin," Alucard spoke up "and I thrive at night,"
"See even the vampire wants to go to bed," Flash pointed out "and it's not even midnight yet,"
"Dee has no powers and if he was going to try something, we would have caught him already," Superman reasoned "Let's get some rest and get him tomorrow,"
"The trail will be cold by then,"
"I have to agree with Superman, this guy a nobody," Hawk Girl stated, "how much damage could he do?"
"Have you ever read The Oddesy? When Jason was facing the Cyclops, he cut the cyclops's eye out and then told it his name was nobody. When the cyclops was asked who took its eye, it replied nobody," Batman stated "Nobodies are just as dangerous as metahumans,"
"Well, that can't be true. To destroy or remove a cyclopes eye is to kill it. Besides Cyclops's aren't all bad…in fact, they are quite pleasant and sociable. I had one guarding me for a time," Alucard spoke up. The Justice League all turned their heads and stared at Alucard bewildered "Until Belmont killed it," he added.
The League continued to stare at him.
"I mean…If you wish to rest, I can stay up and keep watch for this Jon Dee," Alucard offered.
"I'd rather stay up and look into Dee. Besides, don't you need to rest too?" Batman asked.
"I slept for five hundred years, I can go a few more hours without it," Alucard stated "Besides if I do go to sleep, I may sleep for another five centuries," Alucard joked.
"so set an alarm clock,"
"Alarm…clock?" Alucard asked confused.
"Just…go," Batman sighed. He was too tired to deal with the vampires' date knowledge.
"It is alright Alucard, my people only need to meditate for a few hours," J'onn informed "Once I have finished Batman can rest and I can take over the research,"
"Then it's settled, we'll all take a few hours to recharge and meet first thing in the morning," Superman said. Batman was about to protest some more, however, superman looked at him "All of us," he said in a no-nonsense tone.
"Do what you want," Batman huffed.
"Very well, I will take my leave," Alucard said, he gave Superman a nod before uttering the return spell and black flames engulfed him and when they vanished; Alucard was gone.
"Hawk girl and I will return to the tower then," J'onn said, "Anyone needs a lift back to the watchtower?"
"Nope, I'm going home. Night all," Flash said and zoomed off.
"Me too, see you tomorrow," Green Lantern said, he gave them a two-fingered salute as he flew off.
"I'll come with you," Batman said "I want to look into Dee,"
"Just try and get a few hours," Superman pleaded before he too flew off towards his home.
Castlevania
The Transport room suddenly lit up as the black fire pillar filled the room, ignited the candles that were surrounding a circled pentagram. Once all the candles had been lit the fire died down and Alucard stepped out of the circle. The candles once again snuffed out once the vampire had fully emerged.
Alucard walked towards the door and opened it to reveal a large lavash hallway with a red velvet rug. The lights on the wall lit up on their own as soon as he stepped into the hall and the Master Liberian was by the door, giving him a low bow.
"Welcome home My lord," the Librarian bowed "have you brought more knowledge to add to the collection?"
"Not this time, the League has been rather busy this last week," Alucard answered as he walked past the Librarian.
"A pity. Never the less I am grateful to any knowledge you would bestow upon me," the Librarian responded walking a few steps behind Alucard.
"yes, yes you are a loyal servant," Alucard waved him off "I'm going to rest in my coffin for a while,"
"Rest my lord?" the Librarian asked confused "are you severely injured? Or do you intend the castle to go dormant once again?"
"It will not be like last time,"
"You slept for 8 weeks last time,"
"I will try and be up in under 12 hours," Alucard said "Do not disturb me,"
"As you wish," and the Librarian melted away into the floor.
Alucard continued to walk until he reached the end of the hall, where a large wooden double door was closed shut. The door had intricate designs of various monsters on it. As Alucard approached, the door opened by itself to revival a grand room that looked like a long throne room. The walls had various weapons and cross decorating them with sources for light, red drapes were covering the window, and red and gold banners hanging down from the ceiling with the crest of Castlevania on it.
The floor had a red velvet carpet leading from the door up to small stone steps and on the top of the steps was a black coffin with gold handles and a gold cross on the top. Behind the coffin by the back wall, to tall sleek black hat stand that had nothing on it.
Alucard approached the coffin, he took off his cape and coat, hanging them up on the hat stand nearby. He then unbuckled his sword and hung that up as well. He then stepped into the coffin and lay down, using a bit of magic to close the lid. Once he was sealed inside Alucard let out a deep breath, closed his eyes, and went to sleep.
Metropolis, Superman's apartment.
Superman landed on his apartment balcony and walked inside, he quickly discarded his super suit and headed for the bathroom, after a quick and much-needed shower he walked out and changed into his nightclothes. On his way to the bedroom, he picked up the day's copy of the daily planet and took it with him, once he was in his room Superman sat in bed glancing over the headlines for the day.
Clark Kent had written a piece on the escaped villains, listing the more dangerous ones and the justice League working and coordinating with the Metropolis police force to re-capture them. Meanwhile, Louis had written a follow-up piece regarding what she had written about Alucard a few days ago. Now that he had been seen in action with the Justice League and she had seen more of his abilities Louis was writing about it.
Superman was grateful that so Far Alucard had only displayed some of the more common Meta-human stock powers in public. Super Strength, enhanced speed, and flight. Superman had the foresight to warn Alucard in advance about Lois tenacity to get the whole story and the vampire had yet to show off his darker powers; like his magic.
After reading the article Superman set the paper aside and turned the lights off. It had been an exhausting week. He lay down in bed and closed his eyes.
Central City
Flash raced into his apartment and looked around. He hadn't done it was a small one-bedroom apartment. He looked around, there was a pile of dishes that he hadn't done in 4 days, and the rubbish had not been taken out in just as long as evidenced by the smell.
"Yuck, forgot about those," Flash said pinching his nose.
He took walked back over to his door and poked his head out to make sure there was no one in the hall. It was silent.
"I shouldn't do this…but I do not want to sleep in filth," he said to himself.
Suddenly a red and yellow blur filled the room, it dashed all-around cleaning everything up, and in under three seconds, the whole apartment was clean. Flash stopped and dusted his hands tighter.
"Right now, that's done, time for bed," he said and walked into his bedroom.
It was decorated with all kinds of flash posters and memorabilia. He walked over to a dresser and pulled out a pair of red pyjamas with Lighting bolts, he sped around in a circle and changed at super speed. Once he was changed, put a gold ring next to his bedside and jumped into bed, pulling the covers over him and went to sleep.
Watchtower
The javelin landed in the watchtower's hangar bay, once the bay was sealed shut the pressure re-adjusted, Batman, J'onn, Hawk Gil, and Wonder woman stepped out.
"Finally, I am going to sleep for a week," Hawk girl claimed.
"We do have a meeting first thing tomorrow," Batman reminded her "and I except all of you to be there," and he walked out of
"it's just an expression," Hawk Girl huffed "and I thought Alucard was the one who didn't understand expressions,"
"Do not worry, he is just tired like the rest of us," J'onn assured.
"Then why doesn't he get some sleep as well?" Wonder woman asked.
"Not his style, he's married to the job," Hawk girl claimed.
"Agreed, anyway, I will see you both in the morning," J'onn stated and he floated up towards the hanger bay roof and phased through it, leaving the two girls alone.
"Ever wish you could do that?" Wonder Woman asked.
"All the time," Hawk Girl agreed.
The two females' members of the League walked to their respective quarters.
"So, did you read the article that Louis lane wrote?" Hawk Girl asked as they walked.
"I did and I admit it would be nice having more people up here," Wonder Woman answered.
"You're kidding right?"
"No, my experience with man's world has been fighting aliens and other villains and whatever movies Flash brings up," Wonder Woman stated "I think it would be nice to broaden my horizons,"
"I suppose it wouldn't be too bad if we got some more girls on the team," Hawk Girl agreed. "But trying to have a normal life while being a superhero is hard. Particularly in a society that is not your own. I tried it and, in the end, I gave up, I was too recognisable,"
"It was the wings wasn't it?"
"Yeah, but hey you might have better luck than me. Why not join Alucard in his trips to the library next time he goes?"
"I'm not a scholarly person," Wonder Woman responded "my mother can attest to that,"
"Meaning?"
"I ran away from all of my teachers that tried to teach me anything other than combat, in the end, my mother had to take over my academic side of my training," Wonder Woman smiled.
"I didn't realise Amazons had academics. Aren't you meant to be immortal protectors or something?"
"We are but part of our training is studying the art of war, history, and other subjects that help us in battle. I didn't mind reading about old battles and stories from when the Amazons were more prominent in the world. But everything else was I found boring,"
"Fair enough," Hawk Girl agreed.
They continued to chat until they reached Wonder Woman's quarters, the amazon bid Hawk Girl a good night before going inside. Hawk Girl walked a little further up the corridor to her quarters. She stepped inside to reveal a moderately empty room with a double bed and a large window overlooking the earth and stars.
Once inside she put her mace down by the door and walked over to the bed. Sitting down she removed her helmet and stared out the window at the stars for several moments with a sad look on her face.
"Hro, it's almost time for us to meet again," she said softly. Before laying down, facing away from the window and went to sleep.
Downtown, Detriot Michigan
John Stewart arrived back at his apartment, the moment he was inside he took off his ring and changed into his nightclothes, in his bedroom he grabbed the cord to close his blinds. However, his eyes narrowed, and looked out the window.
Across the street there appeared to be an odd-looking figure in a blue hooded cloak. John blinked a but the figure was gone. He took one last long look out the window before putting it down to being overly tired and his eyes playing tricks on him.
John closed the blinds, got into bed, and went straight to sleep.
Unknown Location
Alucard slowly came back to consciousness and groaned. He had not recovered enough from the last few days and his body felt heavier than normal. When his eyes fully opened, he realised he was not inside Castlevania anymore. He was in a sitting position leaning up against a hard wall.
"Where am I?" Alucard asked as he looked around. He was in an alleyway of some kind, the road beneath him was cobblestone and the buildings looked nothing like the ones he had seen in Metropolis. They looked old, the tallest one being no more than three stories.
Alucard stood up, using the wall as a support, and noted that he was still in his loose shirt and pants he had entered his coffin with; he didn't have his sword or long coat with on him. He looked around for them but didn't see them. Alucard reached out with his mind to call for his sword but nothing happened and the weapon did not appear.
"This can't be right," Alucard whispered. He didn't think anything could get to him in Castlevania, after all the castle was a living maze and even if someone had managed to navigate through it, the castle would have woken him; especially if it was a threat.
He walked to the edge of the alleyway and poked his head out, the streets continued but Alucard didn't see anyone around, looking up to the sky he noted that where ever he was it was night-time. If he had to guess a few hours after sundown. Alucard sighed and stepped out; hoping to find someone who could help him or at least tell him where he was.
"This place it feels…oddly familiar," he stated as he wandered through the streets. He could not shake a feeling that he had been here before and it unsettled him greatly.
Turning a corner, he spotted an orange light up ahead and heard the cheering of people. Alucard rushed towards it, hoping to get some answers. He came out into a large town square that was filled with people who were cheering and holding pitchforks and lit torches. At the front of the square was a very tall and glamourous looking church.
Alucard's eyes went wide with fear, he recognised that church and now he knew exactly where he was. Targoviste.
"No…Not here…" Alucard whispered in fear taking a few steps back. He bumped into something and turned around to see that he was now at the steps of the church and there was a large burning pyre with a wooden stake in the centre that reached up towards the sky. And tied to that steak was a very familiar blond woman in a nighty starting down at him with pain-filled eyes.
Alucard froze in fear. Lisa Tepas, his mother was in front of him and she was burning.
"M…Mother?" Alucard gasped.
"Burn her," "kill the witch," "She's the devils' whore," the crowd cried. Alucard looked back at the crowd who were cheering on as they called for the woman's death and then up to the woman who was very clearly his mother.
"Alucard, you're here?" Lisa asked.
"Yes, mother I am," Alucard said gratefully, ignoring the fact she was not calling him by his real name "Hang on, I'll get you down,"
"No stay back, it's too late my son," Lisa said weakly.
"No mother, I can save you if you let me," Alucard argued. He lept into the fire and tried to free clawed at the ropes holding Lisa in place. But they refused to budge, even with his vampire strength.
"You cannot," Lisa continued "You can not expose yourself to them, if I need to die to protect you and your father than I would gladly give my life to see you both safe from harm,"
"Mother no," Alucard begged.
"Please listen to me my son, listen and honour my last words,"
Alucard lowered his head in both respect and sadness. He knew exactly what his mother was going to say next "As…as you wish," he agreed sadly.
"You must despise humans, from now till the end of the time they are to be your prey,"
Alucard's head snapped up and he looked at his mother in horror. "W…What?"
"Kill them, kill them all my son," Lisa said coldly "Wipe them all out, they don't deserve to live after what they have done. Their stupidity and inability to see reason or accept those who are different is their ultimate sin. Kill them and wipe this world clean of their crimes. Only then shall I rest in peace,"
Alucard stared at his mother in horror. He could not believe what she was asking him to do.
"No…I…I can not…I promised you and Belmont that…"
Lisa's eyes went from pain and sorrow to a pitch-black angry expression formed on her face. the flames around her suddenly grew in interestedly.
"You will not obey your mother. What a worthless child you are Alucard," Lisa yelled in a horrific dark voice.
"This…isn't real…it can't be real," Alucard responded "My mother would never ask this of me,"
Suddenly Alucard realised something, his mother had not called him Adrian. Alucard knew his mother hated the name Alucard and she had never addressed him as such. So why was she using it now?
"She would never call me Alucard either," he finished with a low hiss.
Alucard stood up and looked around violently.
"Who is it?" he called out angrily "Who dares tarnish and twist my mother's last words against me?"
He didn't get a response, but that was fine. If the culprit wanted to hide then Alucard would just have to hunt them down himself.
"You are not my mother, you're a twisted version of her and I won't stand for it or listen to anything you say," Alucard declared.
He turned to leave but the crowd suddenly grabbed hold of him and Alucard struggled against them. As he struggled Alucard noticed that the crowd had changed from peasants of Targoviste to the rotted corpse of his mother. Each one had no eyes and was moaning in pain as they reached out and Grabbed Alucard.
"Stop this, release me," Alucard demanded.
"So, I am not your mother, am I? Are you sure?" Lisa asked in a mocking tone.
Suddenly a memory of Lisa filled Alucard's' mind, it was one where she was holding a baby bundled up in blankets and singing softly to her child to calm him and get him to sleep. She carried the child out to the garden…and then dropped him in a fountain and watch the baby cry and struggle in the blanket as it slowly sank beneath the water.
"Stop it," Alucard hissed, snapping out of the twisted memory "That last part didn't happen,"
Another memory assaulted him, this time of Alucard, no more than 3yrs old sitting on his mother's knee. She was smiling and sharing a book with him. However, instead of reading it, Lisa slammed the book on the child and started to beat him with it. Before proceeding to drop a bookcase on top of him.
This was Followed by another memory of her tending to a scrape that he had on his knee that was treated by breaking both legs, another and another. The memories of her kept coming one after another, each one more dark, cruel, and twisted than the one before.
Alucard didn't know how it was possible, but he felt every dark and twisted punishment his mother did to him in those memories. Even though he knew they could not be real, his body felt them as if what happened in the memories transferred over to him now.
Eventually, he was on the ground, beaten and bruised with several broken limbs that did not appear to be healing, and the crowds that held him only made it worse as they kicked and stomped on his injury. Laughing at him.
"Mother…please," he begged.
However, the crowd's grip on him only tightened and forced him to his knees; holding him in place as Lisa stepped forward. Alucard looked up to see his mother standing in front of him. Freed from the stake and pyre that held her a moment ago. She looked down at him with
"Beg for forgiveness my son and acknowledge me as your mother,"
"I…won't…you are not her,"
Another memory of Lisa filled Alucard's mind. This time of her taking a knife and stabbing him over and over in the chest. Blood formed on Alucard's shirt as the injuries transferred over once more.
"DO IT!" Lisa shouted and the assaults of more memories continued to fill Alucard's mind until he could no longer take it.
"Please…. forgive me…. Mother," Alucard finally begged in a low voice.
The assault on his mind and body stopped, Alucard panted heavily but the crowd still held him in place.
"That's better…but no," Lisa said "If you loved me, my son. You would kill them all for me," Lisa said with a sick smile "You would kill the Justice League who put me here…"
"The…Justice League?" Alucard asked weakly. His mind raced as he tried to think of why Justice League deserved to die, as far as he knew most of the League had not been born when the church had burned Lisa. Wonder Woman and J'onn would be the exceptions to that.
Neither had anything to do with Lisa's death, as J'onn would have been on mars, nearing the end of the Martian war that had destroyed his race and Wonder Woman on Thymiscara.
"They burned me…kill them…avenge me. It's their fault,"
"This is wrong," Alucard hissed "This isn't what you said…this is not what you wanted,"
Lisa's eyes once again turned cold, black, and angry and she stepped down from the pyre, the flames burned out warts creating a raging wall of fire behind her.
"The League will stop you from fulfilling my request, kill them first. It will be easy, honour me, DO AS I SAY!"
"You let me die,"
"It's your fault,"
"You hate me,"
"Kill them all,"
"Burn the world to the ground,"
The whole crowd of undead Lisa's chanted over and over with their voices becoming increasingly louder and harder to block out. As the instructions to destroy everything echoed and bounced around inside Alucard's head.
"No…No," Alucard weakly. Closing his eyes and squeezed them tightly, in an attempt to block out the noise "I cannot…I love you mother but I cannot do as you ask,"
"Then you will burn for me," Lisa declared.
Alucard snapped his eyes open and he suddenly found himself tied up on the wooden steak. His wrists bound behind with an unlit pile of wood below. He struggled against the bonds that held him up but it was no use, he could not break them.
"Like me those you tried to save now call for your death," Lisa said.
The crowd had once again changed, while undead versions of his mother still littered made up the majority of it. Now Alucard could make out there were several versions of the justice League mixed in as well. He saw Julius, Trevor, Sypha, and Constantine among them; calling for his death. The only one Alucard did not see was Flash.
"See how little they care for you, how quickly they turn on you," Lisa continued.
The crowd parted Flash walked forward with stride and purpose, holding a lit torch, and approached the unburning wood.
"No…Flash what are you doing?" Alucard asked in fear as he watched flash approach and stop in front of him with the torch.
"Burning a witch," Flash answered. A mixture of emotions filled Alucard's heart, fear, shock, and worst of all; Betrayal. He watched as Flash casually tossed the torch onto the woodpile.
The second it landed, the pyre beneath him erupted into flames and Alucard screamed in pain, as the fire spread across his body and burned into his very soul. Alucard knew this should not be happing, he was a vampire, he was immune to the hottest fires of hell, so why did it hurt so much.
"Superman…Flash…Help me…Someone…please…" Alucard begged for help that he knew would not come.
"It is pointless to beg my son, no one is going to save you. No one wants you to live. This could have been avoided if you had done what I asked," Lisa said with malice in her voice "but you had to be a selfish ungrateful monster,"
"M…M…Mother…"
"The fire will consume you. You will feel my pain, it will eat you and you will never escape this fate…and I will watch with all your friends in satisfaction at your suffering and in one year we will celebrate your death with a day of happiness and revelry,"
"Kill the heathen child,"
"Kill our ungrateful boy"
"Kill the half breed bastard,"
"Kill…Kill…Kill…kill,"
"Burn…Burn…Burn…"
As Alucard screamed as he burned. The worst part was Alucard was unsure if would die. If his immortality, like his fire immunity, wasn't working then he would die a very slow and painful death; however, if it was, he would burn forever listing to all those he loved in the past and the friends he made in the present chant and call for his death that would never come.
Standing on the church Balcony above, leaning on the railing, a blue cloaked figure watched with a smile on his face.
"It's so easy," the figure said with glee.
Castlevania
In the waking world, the Liberian suddenly formed inside his masters' Coffin room. The Liberian looked around confused, he had orders not to disturb his master, and yet for some reason he had manifested in his master room. Nothing seemed out of place, except the castle itself seemed to be angry. Every single shadow now had a jagged edge and seemed to be moving violently, some were ever peeling off the floor. The castle creaked and moaned as if it was crying out.
The Liberian knew that this was never a good sign, as it meant that Castlevania was under a threat of some kind.
"Why are we distressed," the Liberian stated. Being part of Castlevania allowed him to feel what the castle itself felt and right now he felt that there was danger within its walls.
The Liberian walked towards the Alucard's' coffin, once he approached, he reached out to knock but hesitated due to his orders. The Liberian wounded if it was worth the risk, angering his master and defying his request not to be disturbed. But he also could feel something was not right,
So, he gently knocked on the lid. "Forgive the disturbance my lord, but the castle senses a threat from within,"
The Liberian waited for Alucard to wake and deal with the problem, however, didn't get a response. This was not right, usually, vampires were easy to wake from their coffins, the slightest noise was enough to wake them and Alucard was no exception.
"My lord?" The Liberian tried again, this time knocking a little harder. But once again he got no response.
Getting worried, the Librarian flipped the latches and opened the coffin to see Alucard thrashing about and moaning. Heavy sweat-drenched from his brow and Bloody Tears ran down from his eyes but he was not waking up.
"My lord?!" the Liberian called and began to shake Alucard in an attempt to wake him. However, Alucard remained as he was "Master can you hear me? What is happening?"
Instead of waking up, Alucard started screaming in a way that the Liberian didn't think possible. "Mother…please…it burns…" he cried out.
"Mother…the Late Mistress?" The Liberian asked in confusion. He reached out and placed a gentle hand on Alucard's forehead. He closed his eyes and focused, mumbling a silent incantation under his breath.
Had the Liberian ever tried to do this to Dracula or Alucard under any other circumstances there would have very nasty consequences. However, the Librarian was currently the only servant in Castlevania and therefore the only one able to help. He would do whatever he needed to find out what was wrong and how he could help his Lord, consequences be damned.
"Oh no…this is not good," the Liberian stated and he opened his eyes "Not good at all,"