Aria of the Ascending Soul

Written By: Lady Lunar Phoenix

Beta By: The self same Lady Lunar Phoenix

A/N: Snickers

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"Yet he is fearful and worse, his running can encourage predators to chase him down for fun or as a real threat. I think we should get Yoko to tell us what happened to the boy, I doubt she doesn't know." Juste added before glancing up at Soma, "I think we just need to spell out the boy's name and Soma will take it from there for us. After all, Elmo has a calming affect on the Dark Lord and I think he would benefit from knowing the answer to that question."

"You're right grandfather," Richter agreed and began pulling ahead of the group by picking up his pace. "I'll get the pen and paper."

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"I'm sorry Simon... I... I tried..." Yoko apologized sounding utterly miserable as she walked back to her suite with both Christopher and Simon walking by her sides. Who knew kids could be so stubborn? Even when Simon signaled that 'he' wanted to be called 'Simon' and not 'Snuggy'.

The kids resisted.

"You know Simon, it may not be much, but you can at least say that the kids adore you," Christopher offered quietly. Since the children never heard Simon's tirade about his name going as he went so far as to painstakingly write out his name for those children.

Said bear didn't say anything, he just walked with the usual disgruntled stomp he gave when something didn't go his way. Otherwise now known as the 'Bearmont strut', that all the other Belmonts kinda used now. Christopher looked up at Yoko, she wore a white dress like outfit with poppies as the patterned artwork. It was both functional and appealing, which mattered since sometimes she had to defend herself.

Speaking of defending ones self... It was Christophers' turn to come up with the weekly obstacle course for his fellow hunters to run. Juste liked his puzzles, Richter enjoyed team effort, and Christopher opted for the single person runs. And the kitchen was 'glorious' for this reason, allowing for them to get all manner of courses done. Just mount up the boxes, empty out the cabinets some, and they had a grand old time running all over the place! A glorified training ground to get used to their new plush toy bodies.

"Well, here we are," Yoko announced for the bears as she opened the door to her suite and walked in to the freaking GODFATHER?! "Soma?!"

Soma was sitting at her small, for two, round table with Richter in one arm and was petting the brown dog Belmont like a certain cat. He even went as far as to squint at her and in his most raspy Spanish-attempting-to-sound-Italian voice said, "Hello.."

Richter was frozen in place, as though he had no clue what just happened, and given that Yoko hadn't seen the Godfather since before she created this group of prison plushy pals, the alarm was valid. Poor guy didn't have a clue what was going on more than likely and his frozen shock was pretty evident. While Juste, equally confused, seemed to register that this was some type of joke a bit faster and merely covered his face and shook his head.

"We, have some questions... it is about a certain 'Elmo'..." Soma replied in that same restrained almost nasal voice. On the table the letter 'E' and 'L' had been written out in a rather sloppy manner, which implied that it was from the plush pair. Given that Soma wasn't an idiot he apparently decided to ask about Elmo in the most over the top manner he could without the Castle.

She rolled her eyes as she walked into the room, Simon shutting the door behind her, while Richter jumped from Soma like the young man had lit the poor plush tail on fire. She pulled out the chair normally given to guests and plunked herself down with a sigh. Despite Soma actively asking about the small child, she resisted the question enough to update Soma on what he missed. Regretfully announcing the verdict of the choir room session. "Snuggy until I can keep the newest choir away from the established. Because they refuse to give him his proper name, even when he admits to his own name."

"Kids will be kids, besides Simon is a hard name, Snuggy is a soft inviting name, ideal for introducing kids to a church where a toy moves on its own power. Between children shows and horror movies you do what you gotta do." Soma pointed out with a faint shrug as he looked over the plush toys. "But you can't keep beating yourself up over what happened to these hunters."

"Kazu would have known," Yoko pointed out and sighed, "Trevor could have told me through him."

"Maybe... but maybe not as well," Soma pointed out casually. "Trevor allowed himself to go by a different name all of Kazu's life. They clearly were respecting your mothers' wishes and with Kazu forced to live away from you its not like he got the chance to regularly see any of these five."

Yoko blinked and nodded thoughtfully while her eyes went to the badly written letters on the paper. It brought a faint apologetic smile to her face as she remembered what Soma asked, "thanks Soma... so you guys want to know why Elmo is scared of dogs?"

All the Belmonts perked up and sat themselves around the table looking up at Yoko with supposed expectation. Because plushy faces didn't get new expressions just because they were possessed by the souls of the dead or imprisoned. While Juste laid down cat like with his limbs under him on the table. Soma shaking his head snatched up Christopher and put him on the table, followed by Richter then Simon.

"You guys look excited, but Arikado knows the details... I can, however; give you the facts as I learned about them." Yoko began resting her hands across her lap and giving a faintly embarrassed smile, "Basically Elmo's grandfather served the Italian military and was one of the soldiers who fought in the Demon Castle Wars. He was pretty well decorated after that because he was one of the few who returned with his sanity... or at least that's what everyone thought. After that though he 'always' took a few days off to the woods to 'be alone'. At least that's what was noted by neighbors, and..." Yoko slowed her words her expression a mixture of mournful and resigned... "Those 'few days' were always on a full moon. The night that Elmo's whole family died, he didn't get a chance to leave..."

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It was late, the sky was as dark as dark as it could get in a city with manufactured lights, and in the busy business sectors there were people still out and about. Enjoying a night life while the criminal elements were ghosts in the shadows of that glittering part of the city. Cities were cities no matter the part of the world one was in. So long as there was wealth, the night was filled with neon signs advertising businesses, couples lining the side walks and cars the road.

But here, the residential area was quiet. With the full moon hanging over head and only the brightest of stars to adorn the evening sky.

Many homes were internally lit, like pumpkins during Halloween beaming out through pale curtains. Occasionally the shadow of a person would ghost past the curtains like a pantomime show while other houses were just dark. Strays stalked the night, some looking for food in garbage, others just for a bit of warmth to rest at. Winter was coming and the trees were already growing bare of their leaves the further they progressed through the months.

Yet as he approached animals backed away in deferred caution, eyes keen on the sidewalk, ears pricked in case there were signs that the being was a threat. But for now they stayed quiet, letting the wind carry the sound of the neighborhood to him. Soft voices saying good byes or the rare greeting, the sound of a television or radio carried through an open window.

The wind that carried the noise also carried the edge of the bottom of his overcoat, the air was chilled. The kind of chill that would cause people to close up their coats and huddle up while seeking the warmth of their vehicles or homes. Yet it didn't phase him, instead he continued walking down the sidewalk. He probably could have driven to the house, but he preferred these nightly walks, it was quiet, peaceful.

Unlike when he was watching over Soma. Where just the very fact of who Soma 'was' made any peaceful night into a night of daggers. Checking on this house was essentially his break from his eternal surveillance over Soma. Once a month, make sure everything was peaceful, and he could return to his estate.

This was something he probably should hand over to the Morris clan, unfortunately the clan was America-centric and unable to be expanded just to watch over a family once a month. The LeCardes would probably do it, but he detested their near worship of him. It brought far too many parallels to his father's loyal followers. Worst yet was his own private enjoyment, the pleasure at having people at his beck and call who would do anything to please him.

He really was his fathers' son.

But he needed to be here, even if it was a pointless time waste he had a personal obligation to check in on this particular house. It was easy enough to make his presence forgotten by the locals if they stepped out during the night. Yet something that the moon illuminated bothered him as he walked along the street, Italian streets were cookie cut in style, packed like rows of two story houses. They had garages to hold their cars and allowed to have different painted houses to help distinguish each home from each other.

Save this house.

There was one house that had an extra vehicle that was almost always parked out in the driveway. If there was any complaint made by a resident of the area the owner of said vehicle was enough to have their complaints ignored. A decorated war veteran from the Demon Castle Wars was entitled to some luxuries after all. Forced to live with his son and his family, the man was an upstanding part of the town.

And if he needed to take a trip every month to get out of town, to clear his head then what of it? Post Traumatic Stress Disorder was a serious illness and to be respected. The man was one of few who managed to come home with all his limbs intact and of sound mind after all. After his wife disappeared, all he really had left was his son's family.

But his car was in the driveway, it was supposed to be gone.

Unearthly silent steps carried Alucard across the pavement towards the residence while he tried to pick up any scent that would be out of place. Particularly...

He smelled fear, nothing strong, at least not yet, but he saw the lights of the neighbors flick on as he closed the gap between himself and the car. The vivid white light filtered through the butter yellow curtain that fluttered in the faint breeze of activity. The window to the residence was open just a crack and the scent was leaked out into the street.

Only, that wasn't the house he was concerned about, it was the dark neighbor. The windows were shut, but the quality of said windows weren't enough. They couldn't hold back the sounds through the window or the occasional violent slam or sound from the interior. Undoubtedly that closeness between walls allowed for the lit neighbor to realize something was amiss.

He could hear things being thrown, the murmur of voices that carried an undertone of panic. But without the Castle, with his powers sealed, the most he could do under this full moon was shape shift. The man was supposed to be 'gone' why was he 'home'?

The front door was locked, and shoving the door open would only make the house look like a break in that could get some poor drunk sod in jail. So he released his hold on his solid form, allowed himself to slip into the misty form of a fog, a mist, something that easily slipped between the door and into the house. Penetrating through the gaps and allowing himself to reform in the entry way of the home. Where the scent really hit.

Fear turning into furious rage, a lust for blood, an internal light in the hallway was on, and there was urgent, albeit, quiet talk.

"What's wrong dad?"

"Sir?"

He could smell the scent of incredible fear from the child in the home, undoubtedly hiding in his room. But his keen senses also picked up the shift from human to wolf in the house. As man gave way to monster, and a decorated Italian war hero became a werewolf.

Male werewolves were more often than not a problem, restricted from dealing with their emotions males often lost themselves to the beast. While their female counterparts, free to express their emotions regularly were more prone to retaining their human minds. If he were his father, Alucard could order the werewolf down easily, cowed by the presence of the Dark Lord. Unfortunately Alucard didn't have that level of presence with his powers sealed up.

"What's going on?"

The woman's voice took on the tone of mounting panic and that was a red flag. Newly transformed, given the scent of potential terrified prey, if she didn't know to stand her ground and avoid eye contact. It would be the perfect trigger to make the werewolf attack, much in the same way he did his wife. Alucard moved swiftly to the sound, avoiding the furniture because it was going to be the only thing slowing the werewolf down if he started trying to run.

And that was going to be the elephant in the room. Because there was simply no way to keep a transformed werewolf composed for a whole night. This family was unprepared, unaware that this decorated war hero carried something back from that war. And why would they? How would this man explain to his sons' family that he was a werewolf? The world didn't believe in such things out in the open, and this neighborhood was close to the Vatican City.

He'd have to roll their minds, make the adults settle down, hopefully the solider had spent enough time in the woods that he 'could' settle down a bit. If Alucard could roll the wolf's mind enough the man 'might' be able to help him. Hold them out until morning, if that was even possible. Alucard found the adults of the house in a bedroom. The bed itself was tossed aside like a child's block, there was a desk upended on its side on the floor leaning against the bed. The walls were spotted with the frames of pictures that were lost to the darkness of the room. The lights broken on the floor or broken in the ceiling.

"The rooms were destroyed, the reports spoke of deep claw marks in the desk, the bed had been slashed open and the stuffing had spilled out along the floor. There was shredded clothes and other signs of a wild animal attack."

They could hear the snarling, what light they had showed the pained contortions of the body. Alucard could see more, the fur that was rapidly growing over the body, the shreds of fabric around the neck, waist and ankles from whatever the man had been wearing. It was a hopeful sign, because by he should long had since turned into a werewolf. That he was 'still' in the transition meant he mastered enough to try and resist. "Stand still, be silent and keep your eyes on the floor. Don't panic, he's triggered by fear and there's enough in the air to keep him on edge."

"Who? How did...?" the sons' voice was startled and shaky. But he had presence of mind and that would be important.

"Do as I tell you, I understand the situation far better than you can grasp in such a short time," Alucard answered sharply, his voice low. "Back away slowly, if you feel something behind you just stop trying to move back. You're too close to him."

The pair didn't argue, and a slight nudge to their thoughts had them obey, moving back slowly bit by bit. The daughter in law was stopped by a night stand, the son was near the window. But as Alucard approached, he lacked the fear and held only the command of his kind that caused the Werewolf to focus on him. Humans could never beat a werewolf in a stare down, but Alucard could see the slivers of the human man still in the wolf. So his time in the woods 'had' importance somehow the man realized the truth of what happened to him. Getting out and running in some distant woods has allowed him to get in touch with his emotions enough to settle his inner wolf a bit. Only now because the man was still present he could recognize, erroneously, the danger that Alucard represented.

Alucard could control a werewolf, the situation was ideal for it, but the man was still in the wolf and recognized Alucard. As a man who faced the Dark Children in the Castle of Dracula, he automatically grew alarmed. The human panicked, the desire to protect his pack started to kick in, sending the werewolf lashing out with his razor sharp claws.

"You will do nothing, I'm aware that you recognize what I am, but know not 'who' I am," Alucard began...

But the silence in the room had gone on too long.

"Daddy? Mommy? Grandpa?"