September 1999

without any further ado, let's get this last chapter over with!

Author's Note: April 2002 (fanfiction.net)  Oh brother. This is the part where I apologize for writing a fic without planning out the plot first.  It's like I said at the beginning... don't expect too much. gomen. It was fun at the time and I hope people can still continue to enjoy it.

  Alucard was reeling, or at least that is what it felt like even though a part of him could tell that his body was not moving at all. Severnes's laugh still rang in his ears.
  How could this be possible? Was he really human now? Too weak... blood loss too extreme, but... strange... I'm not... not thirsty. Not...? so close to death and the blood isn't calling... then, it is truly gone?
  Suddenly a cold wave washed over him and if it were not for his exhaustion dampening his senses, his thoughts, he might have felt something. Something that he was not usually used to feeling: fear. Close beside his ear, he heard Severnes shout a wordless cry as the magick in the room seemed to overflow before Alucard blacked out.

  A deafening soundlessness awoke him, closing around him as if it were palpable, and twisting his equilibrium. Trying to break the silence was fruitless, since he did not seem to be able to move. It was torture. He tried to open his eyes but a dizziness and swirling darkness passed over him. He tried again until he realized that his eyes were open and the nausea was caused by whatever he was seeing. Wherever he was, it seemed to defy all physical reality.
  He was floating in darkness, actually. Then again, it could have been brightness, it did not matter, one or the other, or both. His wonder drowned out the pain of simply being, and he realized nothing was really hurting him, only distracting him. In fact, he knew this feeling, this. . . void, but never had he encountered it for such a prolonged period of time. This is what it felt like during teleportation within the portal rooms in Castle Dracula. It also felt similar to the final battle with his father over a month ago.

   Then he could feel... Him.
  "No..."
  "My sons. . ."
  ...and Alucard could see Severnes now, beside him. Whether he was there before or not, Alucard could not remember.
  "...what have you done!" The voice of Dracula boomed around them. The voice was accompanied by a mass that seemed to fill the void with its prescence. It somehow resembled Dracula. Cold seemed to centre around the part that could have been his face. If one could ever be chilled to the bone, Alucard hoped that this was the closest he would ever be to living that hyperbole.

   "What have you done!?!" Dracula demanded again. "You have forsaken your own blood. How dare you, you have bared your teeth at me in open defiance!"

   "No, father, I... I- How did you...!" Severnes's distorted resonse ended in a scream.
  "You are a bigger fool than you seem, Markus. Your vanity surpasses even your pathetic aims. Did you think this little stunt would go unnoticed? I am your creator, treacherous insect..."
  Markus was set ablaze, literally, blue flames engulfing him, although, from what Alucard could see, he did not show any signs of discomfort. He merely growled as if unable to speak.

"As for you, Adrian, you are not worth wasting a breath on, but this little charade is over. Your betrayal will cost you your blood!"

  Adrian, can you hear me?
  Markus?? How? Where are you, and where am I? I... can't feel my body, but it is deathly cold. . . unbearable...

   We are. . . Adrian, he is taking it from us...
  What are you talking about? How is it that Father and we can exist in this void?
  Don't you see? Our... bonding has summoned him from beyond... coupling his will and my magick abilities has created this... rift where we are trapped... and he is -
  What? Then how do we get out? Markus, what is happening?
  ...I told you... He is... taking it from us... The imprint of Severnes's thought contained a certain fearful edge to it.

   Taking what? but even as the thought was formed in his own mind, a cold terror gripped him such as he had never felt before. It encompassed his entire being, and apparently Severnes felt it too, for the feeling of jeopardy instantly increased twofold as his brother's mind mirrored his own.

   No... not again. . .
  Although Alucard could not name what it was that he was feeling, Severnes new it all too well, and the vampire had hoped he would never have to feel it again.

   We are... dying... Adrian. . .

   Shock registered in both their minds.
  He is killing us then, like he said he would, Alucard thought. Then, though he could not feel his body, it seemed the affirmation of his fear gave way to the painful awareness of his death. He could feel the blood, pulsing, ebbing, fading, as Severnes's thought drifted again.

   We are dying. . . .

  His vision clicked in.
  Nothing but dark fuzz, and a bright spot in the middle. He stared as if in stasis for an immeasurable amount of time. Then he blinked once, or rather, his body did it for him. Only after that flash of nothing did he slowly realize that he had never opened them from unconsciousness; They had been open the entire time. Another blink and he also realized how ridiculously dry they were.

   A series of blinks rapidly brought things into focus, and he registered the sound of a voice. The bright blur in the entre of his vision turned out to be Maria's golden head staring intently down at him. She called his name softly several times until she saw him look directly at her.

   "Oh, Adrian, you're alive!" she nearly sobbed placing her hand on his cheek.
So warm.
  Alive? I am.... "I am?" he mouthed, struggling to motorize his body.
  "What happened, Adiran?" She helped him sit up slowly. "One moment you were here and then you disappeared for -oh, I lost track- so long! Then you were just lying here, appearing from nothing looking like... like you were dead!" She finished by throwing her arms around him.

   "I yet live..." he murmured, still confused, but relieved that he was. As his memory slowly returned he felt faint again, and was glad that Maria was hugging him so tightly, else he might have dropped back down to the hard stone floor. The he remembered. "Father..."

   Maria turned his head to hers. "What does Dracula have to do with any of this?" she queried.
  "Everything."
  Alucard sighed. His sigh turned into a hacking cough that racked his upper body. He pulled his hand away from his mouth only to stare dumbly at the phlemy blood between his gloved fingers.

   "Are you all right?" Maria asked quietly.
  He ignored her. "...Markus... where is he?"
  They both turned their heads to see Severnes's body lying face down several feet away. Alucard half crawled, half dragged himself over to him. With a bit of trouble he managed to roll the vampire over. Severnes's eyes, like Alucard's, were wide open and unseeing.

   "Markus..."
  The vampire did not stir, even when he was poked none too gently. Alucard opened his palm over Severnes's nose and mouth, and waited. Slowly, the vampire's lips parted, so slowly that even Alucard thought he imagined it. His tongue slipped through his parted lips and licked the blood from Alucard's open hand. His eyes rolled, then he blinked and they turned to regard his brother.

   "What happened, Markus?" asked Alucard, letting his own eyes roll back into his head for a moment.
  Markus opened his mouth wider, but the words could not form in his throat. He tried mentally projecting his thoughts: He did exactly as he said he would. With my death, we lost hold of that other plane... Our blood gift has been revoked. I will be dead soon, this time, never to rise again. "I'll die..." he continued, finding his hoarse voice, "...but you, ah... wondrous creature you... will live, apparently."

   Severnes lifted his hand weakly and Alucard grasped it.
  "You almost killed us." The dhampire did not know whether to be happy or sad about his brother's imminent death.
  "...Ah...well, I wonder if he knew... that you would be spared... You may be his true heir, but you still have... human blood born into you... whereas I... there's nothing left in me... I am merely a part of him for he is in me, and he has taken this life back." He turned his head slightly to the side.

   "What about me?" Alucard gripped Severnes's hand tighter for fear of losing him before the question was answered. "What has happened to me? Why do I not feel the bloodlust anymore?"

   "I took it from you. . . other than that... Hell that I should know what will happen to you." Markus almost smiled.
  "Wh- I am not fully human though?" Alucard mumbled. He turned to look over his shoulder at Maria, who was crouched behind him.

   Markus closed his eyes for a moment. "No, not human... You will always be what you are. Neither I, nor Father can change that. For now... your vampirism has been sucked dry." He would have laughed at his own pun, had he the strength. "It could be months... years, before you will be back to where we started from."

  "I suppose I should thank you for this opportunity." Alucard smiled sardonically.
  "I didn't do it... for you, Adrian," Markus coughed. He wheezed a deathly dry breath. "...But you may take it... as a parting gift if you wish. . ."

   "Markus...?"
  The vampire's head turned back the other way, his eyes half closed. Alucard gave his hand one last squeeze before laying it limp on his brother's chest.

   Almost immediately Markus's body began to fade and soon there was nothing left but a thin wisp of blackest smoke drifting gently upwards. The sight of it was lost in the deep shadows of the room's cavernous ceiling. Alucard, who had been lying perpendicular to Severnes on his front, elbows propping him up, lowered his head to the floor and lay prone, trying to gather strength.

   Maria placed her hand on his shoulder.
  "I'll be fine," he replied.
 
 

Author's Note: For all you die hard Prince Al'c fans, yes, there is a final chapter bit to this fic, coming soon, very soon, but I had to get this part of it up to keep up my end of the bargain... =p lest my ne-san threaten not to get me a Laggy doll for my birthday ^_^'
It'll be wrapping things up and have all my comments and thank-you's attached to it.