purple_shad@hotmail.com
May 1999
 

Alucard walked up to the gate almost leisurely.
Nothing in sight.
It was huge, the gate, its rungs nearly as thick as his wrists. There was no way he could open the gate so he turned to mist, his form shimmering and distorting in the morning light. On the other side, he changed back, the transformation a mere flexing of his power.
The silence was disturbing as he made his way towards the main establishment. The owl and bat winged over the wall and stayed close to him. He knew the emptiness was pure luck. If only he would not be detected until he was actually inside. Walking quickly along an arched outside hallway, Alucard thought he might make it to the door at the other end when a voice pierced the soundlessness.

 "Halt, vampire!"
Alucard grimaced as he spun around to face his opponent who stood not more than fifteen paces from him.
"That, I am not," he declared solemnly, eyes narrowing dangerously.
"Ah, you, dhampire," the creature, obviously female, said. "The master has been expecting you." Humanoid, the monster had blue skin with tiny scales, bony protrusions on the backs of her arms and calves, and metallic plate armor a shade darker than her skin. Her hair was long, white as Alucard's, and straight. Her eyes were large oblong and filled with a blood-red glow, a third bulged from the centre of her forehead. Her smile showed razor sharp glistening teeth. A jagged, twisted blade of black metal was held at her side.

 "So my brother has sent you to welcome me," Alucard stated.
"My name in Lanfuri." She bowed. "I have instructions to take your head to Lord Severnes," the huntress confirmed his statement, her face split into a horrible toothy grin.

 "I like my head where it sits, child." He tossed his head arrogantly.
The creature named Lanfuri was not perturbed by his remark, though. "We shall have to correct that then." She hissed , almost gently, amused as she rushed him.
The terrible blade lashed out for his head, but met his sword, which had not been drawn when she had swung her own. Her insect like eyes widened a fraction in surprise, but she swiveled and kicked him hard to the side. Alucard was pushed half a step but did not lose his balance as he pushed her out of their early deadlock with pure strength. He swatted her sword down as he jumped over her. Quicker than could be seen she turned to swipe at him where he landed, but instead, sliced through air. Before a thought could register, Alucard's sword stabbed from behind, its point coming out of her stomach through her tough armor.
She spit green blood onto the stone pavement.

 "You are a fast and vigorous fighter, but that is to be expected of your kind. Too bad, your short life was wasted in the service of my brother," he said flatly as she slowly slumped to the ground, his sword sliding out easily and covered in green.

 She coughed, spit more blood, and her legs flashed out from beneath her, knocking him off his feet. In less than a second she was standing again. So was he.
"Fool! It'll take more than that to kill me. I am Lanfuri!" she cried, renewing her attack. She landed heavy blows on him despite the gaping hole in her torso.

 "Pity," he replied between blocking her attacks. "I was hoping I could kill you without decapitating you." He lunged and was hit back.
"Cease your talk and fight, traitor!" The red glow burned brighter in her three eyes.
Now he was mad. "Traitor!?" he roared. "To what?? To the cause of pain and suffering? The power -no, the will- and the goodness is in my blood, in me. I am a traitor to nothing!" He had backed her up to the wall now and she was weakening under his fury. He paid no heed to the wounds she managed to inflict on him. Her dark blade clattered a few feet away and he held his sword point to her gilled neck. "Which is more than I can say for you."

 She did not beg for mercy; she did not cower from him, but she glared back at her death with a defiance veiled by fear. With a quick flick of his wrist, it was all over and Alucard continued rapidly down the hall from the widening pool of green blood.

In this manner, Alucard dealt the hand of death to three more of his brother's underlings as he worked his way in and up the fort. This took him the better part of the day and he was finishing up with the fourth, a lion-like monstrosity with acidic saliva, when his familiars returned from a short reconnaissance trip ahead. The owl remained silent, hovering as the bat related what they had found in a telepathic cry.

The master's quarters are up ahead, the bat's thoughts pierced into his mind so sharply he nearly dropped his sword. She has been there, but not for many hours. Alucard's telepathy with his bat familiar did not come in the form of words, but was more like relaying thoughts. It was like suddenly realizing what time it was through the psychic link. Of course, Alucard could turn it off any time he wanted to; He did not need the bat's thoughts interfering with his own all the time.

 He glared at the bat and sent a thought equivalent to: Any louder and you'd have paralyzed me! The bat did not reply but fluttered away from his view.

 With the monster dying at his feet, Alucard stopped to think. Maria was not in the centre holdings of the fort, so he was heading in the wrong direction? Was she in the dungeons then? He was about to turn around and head back the other way when the owl hooted loudly for him to stop. Lost in his own thoughts he had not noticed his bat familiar hailing him in her high frequency 'echo'. It was a cry that was fast becoming a distress signal. He dashed quickly ahead through the marble doorway from which the owl and bat had returned only moments earlier. He turned quickly right and continued down the hall as the bat's cry grew more insistent.

 Alucard turned a final corner to find his familiar in the clutches of a gargoyle-like creature. This monster seemed a miniature version of the one that had kidnapped Maria earlier. The monster was tossing the bat around like a cat-toy, one of the latter's wings broken and dangling useless from her body. The gargoyle stopped and looked up just in time to realize its peril in a pair of golden vampire eyes filled with wrath. Impaled and its skull smashed into the stone wall, the demon's body slid to the floor and dropped the injured bat.

 Alucard scooped up his broken companion carefully. She squeaked feebly in his tender hold. Sensing no immediate danger around him, the dhampire sheathed his sword and removed one of his gloves. He put the length of his thumb up to her tiny mouth. He merely blinked as his bat bit into his flesh and began to suck. He then shifted her into the crook of his arm and pulled out a small potion vial from his hidden belt pouch. He awkwardly poured its contents over the bat's dangling wing, which he then folded carefully against her body. The joints were relatively fine, but it would be a while before she could fly again.

 The owl hooted again.

 "Adrian!?" Maria's voice came faintly from down the hallway.
"Maria...!" Alucard was moving before he knew it, down a hallway he realized he had never passed through yet. His bat must have found it by accident. He stopped in front of a wooden door and peered through the slot to see Maria's wide green eyes looking back at him.

 "Adrian, get me out of here!" She jumped up and down on the other side of the door.
This better not be a trap, he thought, remembering his chance encounter with his 'mother' in Castlevania. It wasn't though. Within moments, the big wooden door swung open and Maria was hugging him harder than he ever thought possible. He returned her embrace with a little difficulty with the bat familiar still in one hand.

 "Are you all right?" he asked breathlessly.
"Yes. No thanks to you!" Maria released him and kicked him hard in his left shin.
"What?!" He barely noticed any pain, but the fact that she had tried to inflict harm on him, no matter how slight... "Maria?"

 "How could you be so careless as to let me be taken away like that?!" she raged.
"But I--"
"I was taken hostage because of you. It's your fault I'm here at all!" Maria nearly screamed at him. Alucard was struck dumb. She sighed, and then noticed the bat. She took it from him gently while it squirmed and wrapped it into her handkerchief. Then she gave it back to him.
"I'm... sorry...," he said grimly, but he couldn't read the expression on her face.
She sighed, moving to embrace him. "Just take me home."
Alucard exhaled and realized he had been holding his breath. "It shall be done."

 "Ahh." A voice startled them to look towards the door. "I'm afraid I can't let you leave yet, my pretty." Markus stood in the doorway, shadows masking his face, but his eyes seemed luminous.

 Alucard glanced at Maria as she inched back from the direction of the doorway ever so slightly. Then turning back towards the door, "You're up early." The Sun had barely begun to set.
"I'm an early riser, Adrian. And what? You were leaving without saying hello? Haven't you anything to say to me, brother?" The vampire took a step forward into the light of the room, the shadows falling from him like a dropped mantle.

"You were never my brother." Alucard replied flatly.
"I see. You haven't changed at all. The son of Dracula is still in denial?" Severnes grinned like a gossip keeping a terrible secret. "No matter. But really we must talk, you and I. It has been far too long..."

 Alucard remained motionless having a staring contest with Severnes for quite some time. Eventually, at Maria's silent urging he turned away. She noticed his jaw hard set and the sharpness of his eyes soften as he looked down at her. Like a whisper, his lips brushed her forehead so quickly she wondered if she had imagined it. Then he backed away from her.

 "I am sorry, but... I must go with him. I will return for you when--"
She could see the corners of Severnes's lips turn upward in a satisfied smile, but he wasn't looking at his kinsman; his eyes radiated a message to her. I have him now, you just try and stop me, they seemed to say to her. Maria's anger resurfaced and she lunged at the vampire (or at Alucard, it's not certain which) but Alucard was in her way.

 "Don't..." was all he said, saving her from being too reckless.
"I'm coming with you," she grated.
Alucard hesitated before nodding, placing his arm around her shoulders. Severnes turned deliberately and led them back down the hall. What a profound affect she has on you, Adrian. The thought floated to him unbidden through his psychic barrier. Alucard's concentration must have faltered for a moment.

 "Really Adrian, must you make such a mess when entering someone's home?" Severnes turned his head slightly and cast a sidelong glance at his brother as he stepped over the carcass of the creature that had maimed Alucard's bat. He stopped and flicked his fingers at the body as Alucard heard him mutter under his breath, "Makya ru neil-y atay..." A blue flame engulfed the body and burned in on itself until even the floating spark winked out. Severnes continued on down the hall. "The rest of the house cleaning will have to wait, I suppose. You're welcome to help, though, Adrian."