The fumes made it hard to think as it coiled about her, pushing away the oxygen she breathed normally. At least she wanted to blame the fumes. 'But Soma doesn't want to be the Lord of Darkness anymore. No one has the right to force him to become that again either,' she thought as she stood there. Yet there was something about facing these spirits that caused her to hold her tongue. Instead she focused on the one thing that stuck out. That Alucard was back in the 'land of his birth'. But how close was he?
With the Spirits blocked from communicating with each other there was no telling where he was. It 'did' however narrow the focus down considerable from searching the 'world' to just one, relatively small, area.
"Are you going to stay and play with us? Or oh.. you want to help your friend don't you?" The small flame spirit pipped up. Disrupting Yoko's thoughts by bringing her back to the present.
"Yeah, I'm sorry, but he's a really good friend and I can't just leave him locked up by the bad people." Yoko gave a cheery smile as the spirits' head tilted to the side with an expression of confusion on its face.
"What's a 'bad'?" The spirit asked...
Hoo boy...
\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\A few hours later \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
"So how was practicing what you will inevitably have to do for your own children?" Valencia asked as she leaned back in her seat. A warm, soothing tea in a cup of fine china lifted to her lips with the utmost 'pretentious Brit' tone she could manage to force past her native Spanish accent. Valencia took a moment to appreciate the fact that her daughter had to endure that. The phone pressed against her ear with her free hand.
"... Whats good, bad, boys, girls, was my friend my boyfriend because he was a boy..." Yoko recited with a sigh. "But for real mother, this helps us a great deal since we can just narrow down our search around Europe... Because try as I might, they couldn't give me any description of the anything recognizable for the region. I mean 'land of his birth' can mean the whole land mass above ground." Yoko pointed out as she stretched out on her chair, putting her feet up on the seat across from her. "We can at least hope that its closer to where the Castle used to stand. But that's got its own brand of dangerous doesn't? I mean, the Castle is gone, would this group go as far as to bring Alucard 'home'?"
"Well, what's the pros and cons of his return to his homeland?" Valencia asked as she put her cup down. She turned her gaze out from her hotel room based in a small Russian city that was busy with foot traffic at the moment. There was a light fog that ghosted over the land and cars below, giving the city a type of hazy feeling dream like quality to it.
"Well that's going to be weird, because its his ancient home, yes. So he has a lot of energies tied there naturally. But he's also spent a good amount of time here in Japan, then there's the whole thing about his coffin." Yoko ticked off as she sank back and closed her eyes.
"On the cons side though, he would be harder to find because so much resonates with his own power... To say nothing of how the Dark Children will react to his presence. Or at least normally, if he's there we should have some news from the Dark Children..." Valencia mused in growing concern.
"Have... Have we 'heard' anything from them? Besides spirits of the dead?" Yoko asked, her eyes popping open as an unsettling thought came to mind.
"Alexander has a few such children among his students, I'll ask him about their well being," Valencia answered, her own brows furrowed and concern entering her voice. "I can't imagine... If its the whole land mass it would essentially be the same as shouting into the void wouldn't it? If its just a portion of the land, can the spirits still cross over? Finding a wall in its place would be rather alarming and a new form of barrier that they wouldn't quite grasp."
"Yeah... so, should I call Julius and conference call this? I mean if he's supposed to be letting the Police take Soma to America... Do we want Soma to just go straight to Europe and see if he can passively sniff out Alucard? Or do we send him straight over the ocean to California and pray that he doesn't sense anything. Maybe send him to Vegas so he can look like he works there..." Yoko asked...
"Yoko please stay on task."
"White fur trimmed pimp hat, diamond studded pimp walking stick."
"Yoko."
"Have hoes in every area code."
"Yoko you didn't draw breath when that song even came out."
"And he's had souls literally make him a woman so he'd actually be nice to the merch..."
"Yoko I know where you sleep."
"I'll get uncle Julius and see what's going on," Yoko cheerfully offered before she began swiping and button pressing her phone.
"Yoko," Julius' gruff voice rumbled out of the phone for the ladies.
"Julius," Valencia answered as Yoko bubbled up her usual 'hello'. "We have some good and not so good news... but before we talk about that... you're not busy are you?" Valencia asked, talking over anything Yoko could have said.
"Just watching Soma watching Sam watching Max throw back sake like water... Did you know Max can sway to the beat even when shes' four bottles in?" There was no way to really put into words how Julius sounded. The bar was not the traditional bars as to be found in Japan, they had already visited those. This was one of those 'cater to the tourist' types and he wasn't the only one watching. Soma had seemingly warmed up to the pair, tolerating their antics with a quiet air of aloof, noble interest. Something that only broke whenever Max decided it was time to tease the ever loving sense out of him.
"Yoko has been talking to the fire elementals, they've been cut off from the main land. Further more they say that Alucard is in 'the land of his birth'. So we need to focus there... I'm going to call Alex and see if he has seen any of his eclectic students and see if there's been any word. But do you want to adjust and let Soma go to Europe? Or just go with the plan of him going to America."
"I'll text you," Julius answered and promptly hung up.
Let him go to America first, while finding Alucard is a high priority, maybe the top one at the moment. Soma needs more people to hold him back if this group tries anything through Alucard. Julius sent.
Will that be enough? Valencia asked.
Probably not, but if we can narrow the field down enough it might help speed up what Soma will naturally do. Julius answered after a time. I get the feeling he's letting us send him around like this. He's more humoring us than anything... Unless Max is teasing Soma, I can see where Alucard gets a lot of his aloof mannerisms from.
Very well, you have fun with the kids, Valencia sent.
Yoko? Are you ok? Julius sent, removing Valencia from the group text.
Ahh I'm ok! Yoko typed with a plastic smile on her face that went unseen.
You shouldn't let your mom talk over you. At least not with me. Julius sent while glancing up to make sure Max was still sitting uprightish.
Well she's your partner originally.. Yoko began awkwardly in reply unsure of how to even progress.
I know. But I'm still your 'Uncle Julius' and it bothers me to think that you're stuck alone right now. With Alucard not here to serve as your partner and me babysitting the incarnation of darkness..
Hey I can handle things just fine on my own! Yoko protested sending a frown emoji to punctuate it.
There's a difference between 'handling things on ones own' and 'handling things on ones own because they don't feel they can trust others because they're not good enough. Julius pointed out, but there was no reply forth coming and deciding that he must have hit the nail on the head opted to conclude their conversation. You know, you're pretty special on your own. Soma listens to you and you're the only person who can remove the souls he's collected. Even if he listens in the manner of humoring you, he's still listening and that's the most important part.
Thank you Uncle. Yoko typed as she juggled between typing and her mind slowing oozing out of her ears. 'There's a shield around the Vatican using the Belmonts' remains and now an even bigger shield... well no I can't see it encompassing all of Eurasia. You can't call something that big a 'cult' anymore. No it has to be somewhere around his actual home land...' "Hi mom."
"Ok, so where would you put ground zero?" Valencia asked, her voice clipped and to the point that Yoko was more used to. A sign that the extended holiday with her mom and not working with Valencia Belnadas was, regrettably, over.
"The Castle itself. But they won't make it that simple. No way are they going to just stand there and let us waltz in searching for Alucard. So the questions would be what they could do to stop us and what would they sacrifice to stop us. Since threatening to hurt or kill Alucard would easily be on the table." Yoko recited as she finally stood up from her chair and laid herself out on her bed.
"And there's no way to release the seal on Soma's powers, correct?" Valencia asked.
"Yes, literally only the Pope can remove the ring on Soma." Yoko reported, "if he dies the next enthroned Pope would be able to."
"If Soma went to Europe he would need his powers to defend himself, I can't imagine the Cults not taking the opening to capture Soma." Valencia continued before taking a sip of her tea. Turning her gaze down into the bottom of her cup, looking past the rich wooden brown of the tea. Divination was not her forte and she found herself regretting that given the situation.
\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ Kazu's Apartment \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
"All we need is Alucard and it'd be like old times..." Grant noted with a faint grin on his face as he studied the landscape before them. It was mostly buildings true, but he had been making a regular trip around the area as well. It was the same type of clutter that made him appreciate the open sea, though being about to stop in for a pint was always welcomed. Save now that he was dead, there really wasn't any pints he could have. The reminder that he was dead eventually caused his smile to slip away and a serious expression rested itself over his face. "So hows the kid?"
He jerked his chin towards the bedroom of the apartment, his question directed to his two present companions. But Sophia could only give a faint shrug since it was Trevors' dude as per Yoko. It was only more appropriate that he be the one to explain.
"We're wearing him out. Sure he's not 'officially' helping the clans, but everyone's constant visits are taking a toll on him. It was part of my function when Yoko put me in this body. Keep the spirits that would wear Kazu out at bay, while simultaneously make it clear what is real and living and what is a spirit. His ability is akin to Alucards' heightened vampiric senses. I can't bring myself to even imagine all the noise that Alucard deals with in this modern age. In the same sense is Kazu's ability. We need to set up our meetings on the roof, or something so we're not in his personal space." Trevor explained as he sat there looking inside the apartment with his pupper body facing the same direction.
"Which isn't good, no one in our clans are verse enough to help him out with his abilities. We'd need Yoko for the few healing spells that she has." Sophia agreed, her lips twisted into a frown as she tried to think of any useful non magical aid. "But Yoko would only be able to restore Kazu's strength and that's not a solution really. His physical health is important true, but he goes through mental strain as well and she can't help with that."
"Aye, tis a shame that." He was quiet for a spell before giving a, "hey you two ever think about our lives? If we had known all this was going to happen if we would have changed anything? Say something?" Grant asked as he began playing with one of his numerous knives.
"Sophia you have the floor since your clan is the one making things even harder," Trevor asked as he glanced up at his wife.
The mother witch winced as she sank down and rested her hands on her lap, her expression quiet and filled with regret. "I... I found her. I found Angela's mother..."
The men straightened up and turned to look at her giving her their full attention. Grant dropped himself to a sitting position with her on his right and Trevor on her right. Bracketing her in support as his ears pricked up at the inflections in her voice.
"This isn't a simple situation of a woman who is just over zealously persevering our traditions. Angela is a product of multiple rapes and has been in the center of a custody battle her whole childhood. Valencia's fear, Yoko's fear about Kazu and they're safety in the clan is very justified. She fought a literal one woman battle to keep the clans secrets safe." Sophia took a cleansing breath while the men stayed respectfully quiet. Even though there was the natural knee jerk reaction of outrage that exploded in their guts at such a thing.
"She's terrified of men, its ingrained in her spirit even, she's dead and wants nothing to do with male anything. Alucard did what he could, provided what aid and protection he could... But he's not his father. Dracula can bring out the worst in a person, and in doing so make them one of his that he can force to bended knee. Dracula could have wiped out the whole of the family in a 'freak accident' and weave a deception that no one would know it was his doing. He could pull the whole group into his own group then kill them..."
"And Dracula will do 'anything' for his son... So she told the Vatican where to find Alucards' coffin. She had been approached by members of the clergy in regards to extra protections for the Vatican. She knew that Dracula uses Alucards' coffin's location as a touch stone, and knew that if it wasn't where it he could sense it... He would lash out."
'She wanted Dracula to come back,' Trevor thought and yet he couldn't find any reasoning against the argument. He wanted to point out that it was wrong, that many people would have suffered not just the assholes who did this if Dracula was called forth. But had his clansmen not kept Dracula's damage to a minimum? 'She was in contact with Alucard, I can only imagine she figured she would escort him through the castle as these guys accompanied me. Try to talk to Dracula as a single parent with a child to raise...'
'Given Soma, I imagine Dracula might actually have listened to the poor girl,' Grant thought as he shook his head in sympathy. 'He did become semi mindful of others after the last chat he had with Al after all...'
"But he didn't come back..." Trevor noted while his pupper body crossed its two front legs..
"Yeah, Angela herself is the reason why Valencia and Yoko have been serving the church. It was part of the adjusted deal that she formed. In exchange for telling the Church where Alucards' coffin was, her mother didn't want the Churchs' interference in her effort to talk to Dracula. Angela adjusted it by having the Church take in Valencia and Yoko." Sophia explained quietly wringing her hands in her regret at being unable to help.
"The Vatican could keep that other family from trying to take Valencia or Yoko, that's for sure." Grant agreed as he covered his eyes with his hands. "I went after Dracula for killing me crewmates. But Lord that woman must have been strong to just hold on for as long as she did. Though I can understand why she would hate men after what she went through... When you have to go against traditions to look for protection from 'Dracula'? Makes me want to take up me knives again..."
"There's no counter spell, but there 'is' a code that Angela knows when her mother wanted to talk to her. I can give that code to Kazu so he can convince her to not go after Valencia or Yoko about this." Sophia offered with a sigh.
"But Angela probably knows and he can't just walk up to her and say 'So I know yer dad raped your mom buuuut...'." Grant agreed as Sophia choked and bit her knuckle. 'God woman, how much did ye edit?'