We Are Kin

 

Disclaimer: Castlevania belongs to Konami not me. I am making £0.00 out of this fic, it is written purely because I have a burning need to create. Although I would like to own Adrian . . . then he’d be mine.

 

Warning: this fic contains Yaoi (GuyXGuy) References, Bloodplay and a possible lemon; if this offends or upsets you do not read this, it that simple.

 

Rating: NC-17

 

Setting: post Castlevania symphony of the night 

 

Dedications: this is dedicated to all Castlevania fans, there could never be too many.

 

Summery: Alucard loses the fight against his father and must bargain for the lives of the Belmont still in the castle.

 

Authoress note: Not sure where this idea came from, not sure I want to know lol.

 

Italics mean either flashbacks or thoughts


 

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Chapter Three

 

The gardens in Castlevania were undoubtedly the most beautiful that Maria Renard had ever seen.

 

The trees were all pale, and all in bloom despite it not being the season for such flowers. Alucard had told her that it mattered not the season in the outside world in the gardens it was always spring. A gift from his father to his mother who had loved the spring. Occasionally Alucard had told her, his father would get a taste for winter and the gardens would be covered in snow, frost and ice. It was beautiful but in a different way. Maria frowned she much preferred spring, all the flowers smelt new and petals almost constantly rained from the trees, it was wonderful. A little piece of heaven in a place made from Hell.

 

They had been in the castle now for nearly two weeks and it was awful. Maria spent her nights curled in her bed, listening to the debates going on in the other room. In the first week it had been bad, arguments would rage, furniture would be destroyed and more than once Alucard had been hurt. Maria remembered tending broken limbs and deep cuts. But now the rages had stopped Maria almost wished they would return; now instead quiet debates went on most of the night ending in soft words and silence. Maria still tended Alucard sometimes but for wounds of an entirely different nature. Bite marks that went a little bit too deep, a hand shaped bruise where grips had been to tight. She had once asked Alucard what actually happened only to have the dunpeal blush and mutter something about bloodlust getting the better of him. she wasn’t sure what to believe, true there were bite marks but some of the bruises were in strange places for it to be simple bloodlust.

 

They were sitting in the gardens now, Maria sighed loudly, Alucard did try and although her nights were spent in fear of the following morning and what new injuries her friend would have; her days were spent in the castle grounds in pleasant areas that she never knew existed. The library was wonderful, once Alucard and Richter had shooed the inhabitants away, the hot pools were a mixed blessing for she loved the heated water but still feared what had happened there. Alucard hadn’t said a word about that but now Orlox was a common companion often seeking them out. They were in the gardens today, Alucard showing her the little flowers made from glass in the far west corner.

 

She glanced at him from the rock she was now perched on and smiled a sad little smile. He was retrieving some bloom or another for her. He would have made a wonderful man, so considerate and kind; he had a wicked sense of humour when you could get him to relax and was clearly willing to endure great suffering to protect those he cared for. It also helped that he was the most beautiful man she had ever seen. Such a shame that he was part of this place, this dreadful beautiful place. He did not belong here, he was a gentle soul she was sure, and although he had been fierce and strong enough to fight his way through this place Maria knew that he truly was a gentle creature. Even the Lord of this place admitted it, she sighed again remember words he had spoken to Alucard the past night.

 

“You remind me such of your mother, you are gentle like her, strong like her. It would pain me greatly to hurt you and it would destroy me to lose you again.”

 

A small happy cry brought her out of her contemplation and let her know Alucard had found what he was looking for in the small rose patch. He had bid her remain outside of the patch as the vines were alive and self-aware, many times now they had wrapped round him, cutting him only to be cut by his claws. 

 

“He’s coming back then.” Richter laughed as the normally graceful dunpeal tumbled and fell as a vine tangled his legs. “All that for a stupid flower.” Maria frowned at Richter, and was once again drawn to the fact that Alucard did not belong here, a true monster did not go clambering into rose thickets for a flower. She was about to voice this fact to Richter who had been acting strangely these last few days.

 

Since the day at the hot pool Richter had changed greatly towards the dunpeal, angry almost. They had stopped speaking comfortably and now only awkward grunts were exchanged. Maria knew that Richter blamed Alucard for what had happened in the hot pool. If the dunpeal would fight this then Maria knew Richter would help him but in the pool it had been so obvious that Orlox had hurt himself on purpose and still Alucard had allowed himself to be swallowed by his blood hunger. Richter it seemed saw that as a betrayal, he believed the dunpeal had given up his fight and had given in to his father and to his blood lust. Maria sighed she too noticed that Alucard was changing but she preyed that he was still fighting. A great flower was thrust under her nose suddenly making her jump. She gasped, it was beautiful, wonderful. So delicate and so intricate that she almost didn’t take it from him. It resembled a rose but lacked the masculinity of the bloom and was almost daisy like in places.

 

“It’s beautiful.” Maria whispered “what is it called.” Alucard shrugged

 

“I have never seen anything like it anywhere else but here in the rose garden.” Alucard answered and almost smiled before turning and clambering onto a branch of the tree above Maria and Richter.

 

“Its beautiful Alucard thank you.” Maria smiled and placed the little flower on her lap before reaching up and pulling down a thin branch of the tree above them and pulling off small flowers until her lap was full of them then she began to weave them together like she had when she was young.

 

Orlox entered the garden silently and Maria jumped to find him suddenly behind her.

 

“Forgive me lady.” He bowed low, She glared, he reminded her a little of the dark Lord but he lacked the same sense of presence that Dracula had. He was also broader built with less grace. Alucard seemed to like him though so Maria put up with his constant intrusions on their privacy. Orlox smiled and lifted the beautiful nameless flower from Maria’s lap and twirled it in his fingers. “Why Adrian, did you go back into the rose garden?”

 

“What of it.” Alucard spoke lazily from his now sprawled position on the branch above them

 

“I’m hurt my Love, I thought you only did things like that for me?” Orlox laughed and Maria glared. From what she could gather, Orlox had been a rouge vampire abandoned by his sire. He had been close to death when Dracula sensed another in his territory and had hunted him down. Alucard had apparently been with him when he had done so, Maria tried hard to ignore the fact that, that meant Alucard hunted with his father. They had found Orlox and for some unknown reason Dracula had took pity on the dying fledgling and had allowed him back to the castle where he had given him rooms. Alucard had become close to Orlox something which Orlox was forever mentioning, the hints he dropped made Maria blush at times and Richter plainly ignored them. A small shower of flower petals rained down on Orlox suddenly as Alucard dropped a handful of them on him.

 

“Four hundred years old and still you act as though you were five.” Orlox grinned as he spoke and shook the petals from his hair. Maria smiled and continued to weave her flowers together. This place was so peaceful, so much like home; she kept having to remind herself that she was in Castlevania. Alucard dropped silently from the tree and sat next to Maria watching her braid the flowers together, Orlox clambered up the tree allowing his arm to hang down when he settled, his fingers tangling in Alucard’s hair. They soon fell into a contented silence as Richter paced near them desperately trying to think of an escape plan. Maria sighed as she remembered when Alucard would have joined him but the dunpeal seemed now to be becoming more and more at home here, it was unsettling but for this moment Maria was glad for she enjoyed the peace.

 

The contented silence was broken when a wolf the colour of coal walked into the garden, his claws clicking on the stone path that cut through the grass. Alucard looked up and smiled, Richter took a few steps back and Maria did nothing, she was growing used to the monster’s of the castle now and was content to leave them be for now. The wolf walked forwards and sat at Alucard’s booted feet, it was huge easily bigger than any hound or wolf Maria had ever seen, its long ears erect as it gently rested its muzzle on Alucard’s legs. Maria smiled a little when the dunpeal began to softly pet its ears. The monsters which had once been savage to her now seemed tame and rather like over grown pets, with which Adrian seemed to play, he donated on a few of them. The daemon card he kept was one of these along with the fairy and the bat. A few others’s got special treatment from him, a werewolf down near the coliseum and Orlox to name a few. Clearly this beautiful wolf was one of them.

 

Maria watched as Richter moved further away from them, his anger at the dunpeal’s lack of struggle was growing and Maria feared that soon he would snap. The wolf made a small happy sound when Alucard’s claws scrapped over its neck and it yawned, Maria was surprised to see great fangs, larger than she had expected. But then it was a monster so why should she be surprised. She allowed her attention to go back to her chain, it was almost finished now.

 

“There are battles tonight.” Orlox spoke from his perch; Alucard made a small noise of agreement “would you like to come?” Orlox asked “I will be competing tonight.” Maria frowned

 

“For entertainment,” Alucard explained when he saw her expression “we battle,” he paused “like men do, it’s for sport not for blood.”

 

“I would appreciate it if you where there.” The wolf spoke, Maria almost flew off the rock and her flowers fell to the ground forgotten. The wolf had the voice of Dracula. Alucard did not seem surprised, he had recognised his father. His hands did not stop their petting of the great wolf.

 

“Yes?” he asked the wolf who had lifted its head “it was an amusement I recall.”

 

“You will not fight me on this?” the wolf/Dracula sounded surprised

 

“I have grown weary of fighting with you,” Alucard sighed “at least over the things of which I see no need to fight.” Maria gasped aloud but it went ignored. The wolf spoke again but she did not hear it. Before the Alucard she knew would have fought his father over anything and everything, it was what he did, it was one of those things she loved about him; how fiercely he fought the darkness. But now her suspicions had been confirmed, he was not fighting, at least not the way he used to. Feeding from Orlox had given that much away but this action confirmed it. She felt herself go weak in the legs at the implications. If he was agreeing to this what else was he agreeing to?

 

“Well then shall we go now, if we do we shall most likely catch the second rounds, the preliminaries will have been done this afternoon.” Orlox smiled and took Adrian’s arm and together the strange group made their way down to the coliseum. Maria following still in shock and fear, Richter muttering angrily to himself.

 

End chapter

 

Authoress note: . . . well . . . . Not much to say bout that huh.

 

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