A Moment of Stupidity Part 2 Chapter 8

[eiahmon]

Title: A Moment of Stupidity Part 2: 1,094 - 1,120
Rating: R for language, and mentions of RAPE and M/M SLASH. Don’t like, then don’t read.
Disclaimer: Castlevania and its characters and situations are the sole property of Konami. I am making no money or profit off of this fanfiction and no copyright infringement is intended.
Summary: AU. What if Joachim Armster had lived through his fight with Leon Belmont? What might have been different? Well hang on, because Joachim is going to tell you all about it. From his kidnapping and forced turning to his rescue from the ruins of Walter’s castle, and from Trevor's birth and to Richter's death of old age, he tells all - and blames it all on Leon while he's at it.
Section Summary: Part 2 covers the twenty six years between Lament of Innocence and Leon’s death.
SPOILER WARNING!!! Spoilers for many of the Castlevania games!!
WARNING!! This fic my offend the religious! Read at your own risk!

8.
Moving On

I moved into my new home the following day, though I still spent most of my free time with Leon, teaching him about vampires. Ella was able to procure some ragged old clothes that I didn't mind destroying, and August gave Leon a regular whip, and I made him try to land a blow on me. Since I was back to full strength, he had a difficult time, and he ruefully commented that if I had been that strong during our fight in Walter's castle, he would have stood no chance. I offered to give him just a little bit of my blood, which would temporarily slow his aging, sharpen his reflexes, and heighten his senses, but he refused adamantly. I tried to explain that it wouldn't turn him unless I drained him first, but he still refused.

He asked me one night after we were done with training - I made him work at night as well, since when that's when most young vampires are out and about - if I had ever turned anyone. I simply shook my head and explained that when I was with Walter, such a thing required his permission, which he would have never granted, and when I was with Kerwin I was more concerned with regaining my strength. I had never really met anyone that I had wanted to do that to anyway.

That led to an explanation of the turning process and how it could go wrong, which led to a discussion of feeding and the effects of blood deprivation. I also admitted to him that I had been much more ill than he had thought when he rescued me and just how close I had come to dying. If Kerwin had not appeared when he had, it was unlikely that I would have lived another month.

Ella brought us each a glass of wine, and we relaxed in my small parlor for the evening, sharing tales of our childhood and times with our families, or foster family, in Leon's case. His parents had died long enough ago that he could only barely remember them, and those images were faded and dull. I laughed at the sight of Leon's eyebrows nearly rising up into his hairline when I told him that I had been a priest before Walter turned me, and I nearly choked on my wine laughing when he related how he had once accidentally dunked fifteen year old Mathias in the well when Leon himself was five.

“He liked to sit on the edge of it and drop rocks down it when he was upset or angry.” Leon explained “I was being a small boy and was out running around chasing a small dog that belonged to the stable hand, and I wasn’t watching where I was going. I ran right into his dangling legs and threw him off balance, and in he went head first. Thankfully, the well wasn’t that deep, but it was deep enough that he wasn’t injured in any way. I could hear him yelling at me from the bottom, threatening all kinds of vengeance. It didn’t help his temper that, even as the servants and his father fished him out, they were all laughing." He smiled a sad smile. "Strangely enough, he started to like me after that. He had resented me at first - I always assumed it was because he no longer had his parents to himself - but knowing what I know about the family now, I wonder if there was another reason."

"I suppose that you'll never know now."

"I suppose not. Mathias was the last of his line, and Elisabetha died before they could have children."

I felt a twinge in the back of my mind then, similar to the one that I had felt when Kerwin had left my territory earlier, but I knew that it wasn't him.

"Leon," I said as I stood up from my chair "Do not leave this room."

"What is it?" he asked with a worried frown.

"My territory is being invaded."

"Can I help?"

"No, you cannot." He frowned again. "I know you want to, but this is between vampires, and it will look very bad for me if it appears as though I need a human to defend me and mine." He nodded in understanding, though he didn't appear too happy about it, and I walked out of the house, after instructing Ella and August to go into the parlor and wait with Leon. The nodded and scurried off as I stepped out the front door and came face to face with Ezra.

Ezra Cohen, blond haired and green eyed, a half century younger than Kerwin. He had suddenly appeared in the area one fall, when he was barely a century old himself and easily killed another young vampire and claimed his territory for his own. No one knew where he had come from, and there were whispers that he was hiding from his family, but no one was able to confirm those rumors. Ezra himself was rarely seen except at council meetings, so I knew next to nothing about him. I did notice that he looked a little gaunt, and I recalled from looking at the territory maps that his land was very sparsely populated, so he likely wanted to claim mine, since I had a few villages to feed from.

"Lord Cohen." I said, using a respectful title, but making it clear by my tone that I wasn't happy to see him. He said nothing; he only stared at me for a long moment before he launched himself at me in a blur of movement. I dodged to the side, and his outstretched claws missed me by a hair. I summoned my swords and set them rotating in a protective ring around me. Ezra was a full 150 years my senior, and he was quite powerful, though no one was quite sure just how powerful.

Ezra launched himself at me again, and I dodged to the right and sent two of my swords spinning towards him. He evaded one completely, and the second grazed him across his chest. He took no notice of the wound, or the blood that spilled on the ground, and came at me again. I didn't have time to evade him, and he collided hard with my shield as my swords returned to their places and bounced off. I was a little surprised at that; generally an older vampire is more powerful than a younger one, but then Walter had been nearly 600 years old when he sired me, so I had been given a nice head start.

Ezra landed on his feet, stumbling a bit as he did so, and turned to face me. His face was twisted in a snarl at being so easily rebuffed, and we spent a long moment warily circling each other, waiting for the other to make a move. Ezra gave first, and he ran towards me and threw his hands out, causing a wave of force to roll across the ground at me. It pushed me back, but little else, and it occurred to me then that, despite his age, he was weaker than me! That would have knocked most vampires my age off of their feet, yet it barely fazed me. I couldn't help it; I laughed, like I had at Actose all those years ago, and just like Actose, Ezra snarled again and charged me. I brought my arms up, and my swords flew up into a horizontal position before they whirled around me furiously for a few seconds. Ezra ran right into them, and his head was neatly separated from his body.

I glided over to his head, just as his body gave one last twitch and then was still. I banished my swords, landed on my feet, and with a pointed finger and a thought, I set his body aflame. Within seconds, the body was ash, which I then kicked to scatter. The night breeze picked it up then and carried it off.

It was then that Leon stepped outside. "Is it done?" he asked, and I nodded, still a little shocked that I had defeated Ezra so easily.

"It looks as though I have some new territory to claim." I remarked after a while "Would you like me to show you how we do that?"

"Certainly."

For the next few hours, I led Leon around the boundaries of my new territory, showing him how the markers were made and the barrier set. I simply had to find Ezra's markers, which was easy, and cover them with my own. To my surprise, Leon was able to sense my markers if he concentrated hard enough, something that he should have not been able to do. I wondered if he was magical, since some magical humans could sense us, or if he had a vampire in his ancestry somewhere. I didn't say as much though.

Once we were done, Leon went on home, and I returned to my own house, and I tried to ignore the scorched, burned area on the ground where I had burned Ezra’s body. The following day I visited Kerwin and told him what happened, while Matatias sat on my lap and scribbled away in one of his books.

“I’m glad you’re okay, Uncle Joachim.” he said as he put his book down and snuggled against my chest. I smiled down at him and stroked his hair, while Kerwin grinned at us. He then sent Matatias off to get ready for bed, and once the child was gone and the door was closed behind him, Kerwin turned to me and said seriously:

“You did what you had to do, Joachim. He invaded your territory, and you defended it.”

I waved him away. “Oh, I’m not bothered about that. I’ve been a vampire long enough that the thought of killing in self defense does not bother me. I’m just curious why he attacked.”

Kerwin shrugged. “Who knows? Maybe since you are relatively young and newly independent, he thought that you would be easy pickings.”

“I suppose. He looked a little gaunt though, like he hadn’t fed well in quite some time. Maybe he was just thirsty.”

Kerwin gave me a sharp look. “Don’t feel sorry for him, Joachim. He invaded your territory and deserved what he got. If you feel sorry for him, then the others will eat you alive in the next council meeting.”

I cringed; I had forgotten about those. And I would have to face them alone, since I no longer had a master to protect me. Thankfully, I wouldn’t have to deal with one for four more years, since they were every five years, but I still wasn’t looking forward to it. Hopefully, being claimed as family by Silvanus would give me some protection. Few, if any, had ever seen Silvanus truly angry, but all feared setting him off. With his age and power, he could wipe us all out in a heartbeat.

Kerwin reached out and squeezed my shoulder reassuringly, and I smiled a small smile at him before I began to tell him about Leon’s remarkable ability to sense my territory boundaries.

He was surprised.” Really? I’ve never heard of such a thing, at least not from a non magical human.”

“I wonder if he has a vampiric ancestor or something.”

Kerwin rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “It could very well be. Plenty of vampires bred with humans, though human women seldom survive giving birth to half breeds. Most of the children are either taken in by the vampire parent, or killed by the human parent shortly after birth. Few have the pleasure of having both parents around.”

“But you have heard of it?”

“Oh yes, Father told me that one of his uncles married a human woman, much to the displeasure of the rest of the family, and the two of them eventually had a few half breeds before she died giving birth to the fourth one. Sadly, the child died with her.”

That led to a discussion about half breeds, and Kerwin told me that they had to eat like regular humans, though they didn’t need as much. They also needed blood, preferably from the vampiric parent, though again, they did not need as much. They were sensitive to sunlight, rather like a very fair skinned human, but they never had to worry about burning up in it. They were weaker than full vampires, though they could still be quite powerful, depending on the power of the vampiric parent when they were conceived, and they grew in power with time like the rest of us. They also lived for centuries, but no one was sure if they had unlimited lifespans like full vampires, or if they lived so long and then died.

I asked Kerwin if he had ever actually met a half breed, and he shook his head no.

*****

For the next year, things moved on like normal. I continued to teach and train Leon, and he proved to be a quick study. Soon, myself and the other older vampires in the area didn’t have to worry about the out of control, homeless children, because Leon took care of them for us.

When he wasn’t working with me or whipping young vampires senseless, he was seeing to his duties as Baron Belmont, and he was careful to keep his association with me a secret for obvious reasons. He did ask on occasion if there were any more vampires in the area, and I told him that yes, there were, but I refused to say who. With his ability to sense us and our boundaries, he could figure it out on his own if he wanted to, though I hoped that he wouldn’t. If he encountered someone like Actose, or, God forbid, Ladislas, he was doomed. I didn’t know exactly what Ladislas would do, but I knew what Actose and his children would do to him, and I never wanted him to experience such a thing if I could help it.

In 1,096, two years after Walter’s death, I noticed that Leon had another scent on him when he came to visit. I could faintly smell menstrual blood in the new scent, and I couldn’t help but smile when I realized that Leon was also moving on. I was curious about the new lady in his life, but I figured that he would tell me when he was ready. Which he did, a few days later.

His new lady love was a fiery haired beauty by the name of Kalina Tavernier. Her family was working class, tavern keepers, obviously, and Leon had met her during his many travels while vampire hunting. He had asked for permission to court her on the spot, and her parents, though surprised that a lord was expressing interest in their daughter, had agreed.

I was later introduced to Kalina, and I found her to be every bit as beautiful as Leon described, and her impish smile could light up a room. Leon later confided that already knew that she was the one he wanted to marry, but he was going through the courtship to please her parents.

“I’d marry her in an instant if I could.” he said. He hadn’t yet told her what really went on in the Forest of Eternal Night, but he was planning to sometime in the future. “I have sworn that the Belmonts will forever hunt the night, so she needs to know.”

Eventually, he did tell her, and he also told her of Sara, and the creation of the whip, which Leon drolly referred to as the Vampire Killer. Kalina’s reaction to this was to apparently throw her arms around Leon’s neck, kiss him senseless, and then take the whip and assure Sara that she would take care of Leon.

After hearing that, I knew that wedding bells were in their near future, and I was proved right, when, in the spring of 1,097 Kalina and Leon were married in the small church on the Belmont Estate. Many of the neighboring lords and ladies were in attendance, including Kerwin, and to my surprise, Leon asked me to stand up with him, which I agreed to with a nod of my head, too shocked to speak. After getting permission from Kerwin, Leon had informed Kalina of Kerwin and Matatias’ true nature, and Kerwin allowed her to see through the illusions over them. She had accepted them both instantly, which pleased Kerwin to no end.

The following year, in the fall, Kalina gave birth to a son, which was named Elias. Leon then shocked me a second time by asking me to be the godfather, and again I accepted with a nod of my head. I did fill the requirements after all - I had been baptized when I was an infant, and I was a responsible adult not related to the child - and the whole vampirism thing was unknown to the priest and ignored by the rest of us. I did remember vividly those few short years that I had spent as a member of the cloth, but those of those days led to thoughts of Isaac, and I still found it painful to think of him.

Elias laid quietly and calmly in my arms during the ceremony, occasionally peeking out with the bright green eyes that he had inherited from his mother. I couldn’t help but wonder for a moment what Walter would think of his child standing in a church, holding a baby, and being made responsible for the child’s spiritual education. He’d probably die of shock...

Kerwin on the other hand, thought the whole affair funnier than hell, and he laughed for a good five minutes when I told him.

“I’m glad though, Joachim.” he said once he had calmed down.

“Oh?”

He smiled at me. “You’re living life again, and it makes me happy to see you happy.” I smiled back at him, and he drew me into a hug.

*****

When Elias was eight months old, word filtered down that the council was due to take place the following month. I swallowed my nervousness and informed Leon what was going to happen. He listened and told me to be careful and come home safe.

I traveled with Kerwin, Matatias, and Celia like before, and to my surprise, Silvanus joined us.

“May I not travel in the company of my family?” he asked with a smile, and we welcomed him to join us. I was grateful for his presence; with him being close to me, coupled with his announcement that he claimed me as a grandchild, no other vampire would likely bother me, though I admitted to myself that that hadn’t stopped Ezra.

We gathered in the entrance hall, and like before, Silvanus was the first to be escorted to his rooms, with Ladislas and Rachim second. Kerwin was seventh to be escorted out, and once he was gone, I felt so very vulnerable, but I ruthlessly quashed it and tried to hide my fear. I was nineteenth to be shown to my rooms, with five vampires behind me. When I had killed Ezra and claimed his land, I had been moved up in rank to fill his spot. My rooms were small and comfortable, but nowhere near what I had experienced living with Walter or Kerwin, but I didn’t care. I knew that I was relatively safe inside of them.

The week went very well, to my surprise. I heard my defeat of Ezra being discussed every now and then, but no one challenged me over it, and even Actose left me alone. I did see Godric Bernhard off and on, but he ignored me, and Kerwin confided that he was ignoring him and Matatias as well.

The night before we were to depart for home, I was returning to my rooms after a massive feast in the main hall, when I heard a scream, followed by jeers and catcalls. I told myself that I should stay out of it, but I then heard someone crying almost hysterically, like I had so many times before, and before I knew it, I had turned in that direction.

To my shock, I encountered a few children that I knew to be recent acquisitions of Actose in the hallway, tormenting Rachim, Ladislas’ only child. They had torn off much of his clothing, leaving him only in his light silk underclothes, and even those were torn and full of holes. His ever present cloak and blanket were also gone, as were his shoes. The three others were circling him like jackals as he knelt crying and shivering on the floor, and they were slapping at him, pulling his hair, and tugging at his clothes, tearing them a little further each time. Rachim, too weak and sick to fight them off, was sobbing in terror and bleeding from his eyes, ears, and mouth, and likely from other places as well.

“What are you doing?” I snarled as I stepped forward, and the three other children jumped and stopped their jeering to stare at me for a moment.

“Well if it isn’t Joachim.” one of them sneered, and then he reached out and slapped Rachim on the back of the head “Stop your damned whining! We haven’t even done anything to you yet!” Rachim wailed and reached out to me then, looking for rescue.

“That’s Lord Armster to you, boy.” I hissed as I walked forward intending to scoop Rachim up into my arms, but before I could reach him, one of the others grabbed him by his hair and yanked him back away from me.

“Why did ya have to come and interrupt our fun, Lord Armster?” he whined “We were just wantin’ to play with him. Honest, we weren’t gonna do anything bad. We were just gonna take him to our rooms and have a little fun with him. Actose said we could.”

I was suddenly furious; it was clear what kind of “fun” they had in mind, and I was not going to stand by and let them do that to that to the poor child. I summoned one of my swords and sent it flying, point first, at the little bastard that had Rachim, and he let out an “Eep!” and hastily let go of Rachim’s hair to dodge the sword. I darted forward and gathered Rachim to me and summoned the rest of my swords, setting them in a protective ring around us.

“Leave.” I growled dangerously as I idly wondered why Ladislas hadn’t yet sensed his child’s distress and come running.

“But Lord Armster -” the whiny one began, but I cut him off in mid-sentence.

“LEAVE!” I roared, and I waved my hand at them, blowing them all off their feet and shoving them several feet away. They scrambled up and ran away, throwing terrified glances as me as they went.

Once they were gone, I dismissed my swords, and turned my attention to the shivering, crying child in my arms. I reached out a hand and wordlessly summoned his cloak and blanket, which were lying nearby, to me, and I snugly wrapped him up before I picked him up and began to carry him to Ladislas’ rooms. He buried his face in my neck and hung on for dear life as I carried him through the halls.

By the time, I knocked on Ladislas’ door, Rachim was no longer crying, though he was still shivering violently, and he was still clinging to me with every ounce of strength that he possessed. A deep voice bade me enter, and the door swung open on its own accord, and I stepped into a luxurious sitting room to see Ladislas sitting by a roaring fireplace. Across from him was Actose, and he paled when I walked in, carrying Rachim.

I didn’t see Ladislas move, but he appeared right in front of me, and he gently took his child into his own arms as Rachim burst into tears again.

“Oh child,” Ladislas cooed as he held Rachim close and smoothed his hair back “What happened? Where are your clothes? Did someone attack you?” Rachim only cried in response and clung to his master, and I looked past him and glared at Actose, and Ladislas caught the look and whipped around to stare at the younger vampire, who shrank back in terror.

“What the hell are you playing at, Actose?” he roared in sudden rage, and even I took a step back as his power filled the room, making the stones shift and the wooden beams creak “Did you come here to keep me distracted so your children could harass my child? Were they going to drag him to your rooms for some playtime, or were they just going to strip him naked and terrorize him?” The look on Actose’s face confirmed that it was the former, and Ladislas dragged Actose out of his chair and threw him out the door by the sheer force of his will. “GET OUT! I will deal with you later!” The door slammed shut, and Ladislas spent a few moments crooning to his child before he turned to me.

“Thank you, Lord Armster.” he said quietly “Rachim has just told me how you rescued him and chased them away. I must feed and dress him, but while I do that, would you like a glass of wine perhaps. Once he has been taken care of, I would like to thank you properly and explain why I did not come to his rescue myself, since I know you are wondering."

I nodded in acceptance and took Actose's vacated seat while Ladislas carried Rachim out of the room. He returned a few minutes later, with Rachim still in his arms, but the child was calm and sleeping and dressed in warm clothing. Ladislas sat down in front across from me and a bottle of wine and two glasses came floating across the room from a cabinet. The wine poured itself into the glasses, once of which floated over to me. The second went to Ladislas. He spent a moment settling the sleeping child on his lap before he took the glass, only to drain it in a single gulp.

"I allow Rachim to wander when he feels up to it." he began as he put the glass down on a nearby table "It is rare that he feels well enough to venture away from me, so I encourage him when I can. Others are too frightened of me to try and harm him, so he is normally safe. They do not know that, due to Rachim's frail health, the bond between us is weak, and there are times where we cannot sense each other. If Rachim is in real distress, I usually feel him, but not if I am distracted. Actose evidently figured that out. I'm sure that you're aware that he has an obsession with others' children, though he has never dared to bother Rachim before. I've no doubt his children went after him on his orders. I shudder to think of what they would have done to him if you had not come."

I shivered then. "I have an idea, and I wouldn't wish that upon anyone."

"Yes, I’m sure you do, and no, I can't imagine that you wouldn't." He gave me a wry smile at my surprised look. "Walter didn't keep it a secret on how he treated you, and after he died and you were seen here with Kerwin, I could plainly tell that you had been ill."

Rachim shifted and whimpered in his sleep and Ladislas gently shh'ed him before he looked up at me again. "I can't thank you enough for protecting him when I could not. I gave up everything for him, and I never want to see him hurt again."

"May I ask what you plan to do about Actose?"

Ladislas smiled a truly frightening smile. "I suppose I could just take one of his children from him, but I know he spares no feelings for them, so that will be no punishment for him. I imagine that I might be able to convince Lord Asenti to let him punish Actose himself. That will certainly teach him something." Rachim whimpered again. "And now I must put my child to bed."

"My lord?"

"Yes?"

"I was always given the impression that... that you.. really did not care about anyone, yet here you are, acting the exact opposite. Why?" I fell silent then, shocked at my own boldness.

Ladislas raised one eyebrow. "I care about one thing and one thing only, Rachim, and anyone that hurts him will face me. The rest of the world can go fuck itself for all I care." I nodded in understanding and stood up from my chair. I thanked him for the wine and told him that I hoped Rachim would feel better soon before he saw me to the door. Once I was out in the hallway, the door shut behind me, and I heard Ladislas crooning to Rachim as he carried him off to bed.

*****

"He actually thanked you?" Kerwin asked in surprise when I told him what happened.

"I do not know why you find that surprising, Kerwin." Silvanus commented "Ladislas may be an utter bastard most of the time, but he loves Rachim, and he's grateful to the one that rescued him." He looked at me. "Just don't expect any favors in the future, Joachim."

"Loves Rachim alright." Kerwin muttered to himself "Loves him so much, he tortured him until his health was permanently ruined."

"That's enough, Kerwin Bernhard." Silvanus' voice cracked like a whip. "There is much more to the story of Ladislas and Rachim than you know. Leave it!"

Kerwin flushed and nodded, and I wondered what Silvanus knew that he wasn't telling us.

That night, a scream reverberated throughout the castle, brining me to full awareness in an instant. I sat up in bed and listened breathlessly, and a split second later, another scream rang out. I recognized the voice immediately. It was Actose screaming, and I received brief image of him lying underneath Ladislas, covered in his own blood. Despite the brutality of it, I smiled grimly at the thought of Actose finally getting his due, laid back down, and, despite the screaming, went back to sleep.

Chapter 7 -- Chapter 9

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