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Blood Is Chapter 2
Title: Blood Is
Rating: R
Disclaimer: Do I really have to mention that I don't own Castlevania? If I did, we would have gotten to see Julius curbstomp Dracula, the storyline would have been neatened up a bit, and Dracula and Alucard would have just fucking HUGGED already after the reveal in Lords of Shadow 2.
Summary: Lords of Shadow Continuity: AU to Mirror of Fate and Lords of Shadow 2: Trevor wasn't the only one that had the truth of his parentage kept from him by the Brotherhood.
A/N: So there I was, rereading the prologue, when I noticed a hilarious autocorrect on Open Office's part. For some reason, it had changed "Cronqvists" to "Creationists". I suppose it fits considering the heavy religious tone of the Castlevania series, but it still made me crack up. I'm surprised no one caught it. At any rate it's been fixed, but it was good for a laugh. XD
2.
Gabriel did not know how much time passed before he raised his head again. His head throbbed from the crying, but it subsided and vanished as he slowly pushed himself to his feet. He looked around for a moment, but he did not recognize his location. He paused and then laughed at the absurdity of it; how could he expect to memorize the layout of a demonic castle? He ignored that his laughter had a slightly hysterical edge to it as he began to wander out of the area.
A nearby vase provided the blood needed to quiet his thirst, and he continued his wandering through the seemingly empty castle. He remembered the various creatures that were housed there while Carmilla was in charge, but he hadn't seen any sign of them in the days? weeks? months? since he had taken refuge there. Had they all fled? Had he managed to kill them all back then? Why did he even care in the first place? It wasn't as if he was planning to lord over them himself.
We need you here...
He shivered and pulled the ragged remains of his leather armor tighter around him. How long had it been since he had had a change of clothing? It had been just after.. just after...
"Marie's funeral." he whispered. He had watched her overnight as was custom after their friends and family had come through, and then they had buried her the next day. The morning after that, he'd been visited by the Brotherhood Elders and informed that the Lords of Shadow were the cause of the world's problems, which included preventing Marie's soul from moving on. So he'd geared himself up, said goodbye to his friends and family...
He laughed bitterly. Family? He didn't have any! He'd been an unwanted bastard child, tossed down onto a doorstep like the trash.
We will never leave you...
The men that had raised him had been friends and comrades in arms, but it hadn't been until he'd married Marie that he'd had anything resembling a family. And now... she was gone.
She was gone.
Marie was gone...
Marie was dead!
He had killed her!
He had murdered his own wife!
"Gabriel the bastard!" He could hear the taunts as though his childhood tormentors were standing right behind him. "Nobody wants him! Everybody hates him. He should just go off and die!"
"Death would be preferable right now." he said to no one in particular. A second later he jerked his head to the side to escape the feeling of invisible fingers running through his hair. "Don't touch me!" he snarled.
My lord...
"Leave me the hell alone! I'm not your lord! Stop talking to me!"
But we need you.
We will take care of you.
We will protect you from them.
"I don't want you to take care of me! I don't need your protection!"
An invisible hand caressed his cheek. Do not fear us. We will never harm you.
He jerked his head away from the touch. "Leave me alone!"
There was a pause, and then... As you wish, my lord. The caressed stopped then, and the voices fell silent. Gabriel sighed, and the sound echoed off the stone walls and high stone ceiling as he began to walk again. Maybe now, he could get some peace.
He wandered aimlessly through the massive castle, with only the sounds of his booted feet against the stone floors for company. Sometimes when he took a step, he could feel the coldness of the floors on his feet; his boots were in a similar state as the rest of his clothing. He ignored it, unable to muster the energy to care.
The hours passed slowly passed by as he walked through the empty rooms and cavernous halls of the Bernhard Castle, and at some point, a tingling across his skin, akin to what one would feel whilst in the midst of a lightning storm, warmed him that the sun was on the rise. He needed to find a dark place to lie down in safety...
We will keep you safe.
… but maybe he shouldn't.
Maybe he should just find a large window and throw himself down in front of it, end his miserable existence while he still had the nerve...
He raised his head and looked around, and as luck would have it, there were windows in the room ahead of him. All he had to do was walk through the open door ahead of him into the slowly strengthening sunlight that he could see shining through the dirty glass... it would be over quickly.
He felt a tug on his sleeve -
We will not allow it.
- and the door slammed shut with a bang! that echoed loudly through the deserted halls.
You belong to us now.
He reached out for the door handle, but it would not turn, and the door would not budge. He pushed and pulled with all of his strength, but the door refused to move, as though something was holding it closed from the other side.
"I told you to leave me alone."
You cannot harm yourself here.
"I don't want this! Open this door!"
You are ours.
"No! You cannot keep me prisoner here! Open this door!"
He felt hands grab him by his ragged clothing, and they began to pull him away from the closed door. He gripped the handle with both hands, and for a moment, he was caught in a strange tug of war between the door and the invisible hands.
Come with us, my lord.
You must be kept safe.
"Let go of me!"
The heavy oaken door began to creak, and then it began to groan as the hands tried to pull Gabriel away from it.
We need you here.
"Release me!"
There was a loud pop! and the wood around the door handle split, and then with a crack! it gave way, which sent Gabriel tumbling down to the floor. The hands then began to tug him away from the damaged door and the bright sunlight he could see through the cracks left behind by the door handle.
Come with us.
He managed to get his feet under him, but he could not reach the door, no matter how hard he struggled. He howled in frustration and rage as the hands dragged him away, away from the sweet release that was right there in front of him, and back into the shadows of the castle.
******
It was rare that he wandered among the common folk like this, Wolfram thought as he and Edeline strolled arm and arm through the fair that had come to town, but it was nice to get out once in a while. If anything, it allowed them to see what was going on on their lands and hear if there were any problems that needed to be taken care of. It wouldn't do for the lord and lady to be out of touch with their people, after all. Of course it helped that fairs and festivals of all kinds were fountains of gossip, so it allowed him to easily keep one ear on the conversations going on around them, to see if there was anything worth paying attention to.
The favored topic seemed to be the mysterious warrior that had ended the plague of monsters and evil that had covered the last the previous summer and fall. No one, it seemed, had seen or heard from this warrior after his battles had been finished, and there were some that insisted he was dead, that he had died in battle against Satan, succumbing to his injuries moments after he had sent the fallen angel back to Hell. Of course, many scoffed at that. What mere mortal could defeat Satan?
God's Chosen One was the most common answer. A man chosen to be God's warrior on Earth could defeat Satan, because what chance would an angel have against someone carrying the power of God Himself?
Wolfram shook his head as he listened to the people talk. He remembered those terrifying weeks where it seemed as though God had abandoned them. He remembered the monsters that had roamed freely and how nothing he or his knights had done seemed to stop them. For every one they killed, another had taken its place, and it had seemed as if the attacks would never stop. He'd been unable to keep track of the homes damaged, crops destroyed, livestock slaughtered, and families murdered in their beds. He counted it as a miracle that they had made it through the winter.
He remembered the day that the attacks began to taper off, and how they slowly decreased in frequency until they stopped altogether. He, like everyone else, had breathed a sigh of relief that the trouble seemed to be finally over, even as he wondered what had stopped it. It was only days later that the stories began to circulate, stories of a mysterious warrior from the Brotherhood of Light that had fought the Lords of Shadow and then Satan himself.
Wolfram knew about the Brotherhood of course. It was impossible not to, as they could be seen everywhere, going about their business. Their compound was on a neighboring lord's land, several days away. He didn't mind their presence; they were great help in times of need, such as the events of the previous year, and they could be found out and about just like anyone else during the nicer weather. As a matter of fact, they had approached him for permission to build a second compound on his lands, and he had promised to think about it. He wasn't opposed to them building there, but he needed to find a suitable spot first. They were entirely self sufficient, with their own fields and livestock, and they only bartered with the townsfolk on rare occasions, so he needed to make sure it was a place that had plenty of room for them to sprawl out as needed.
And speaking of the Brotherhood, Wolfram thought as he saw one of their elders approaching him through the crowd. It was the same one that had inquired about being a compound on his lands actually.
"Cardinal Volpe," he said cordially as the elderly man, sporting a long, white, pointed beard and carrying a strange hybrid of a staff and spear, stepped up to him.
"Greetings, Lord Cronqvist." Cardinal Volpe said with a nod of his head, which allowed Wolfram to get a good look at the top of his bald head. Strangely enough the back of his head sported hair that fell past his shoulders. "I was hoping to hear that you have good news for us?"
"Indeed I do. I only wish to make sure you have a suitable place with room for everything you need first."
"I understand, my lord. If it pleases you, I wish to have some of my own people scout the land, and if they find a place, they may bring it to your attention for your approval?"
"That will work well. Just as long as no building takes place before then."
"Agreed, my lord. I will get my men on it immediately."
"Very well then."
"By your leave, Lord Cronqvist." the Cardinal nodded nodded respectfully to him, as well as to Edeline, and then turned and walked away. Wolfram watched him go, and he noticed how, from behind, the man's uniform and cloak was red... and hooded...
He frowned in sudden thought, and stared after Cardinal Volpe long after the man had vanished into the crowd.
"Wolfram?" came Edeline's quiet voice from his left. "Wolfram, what is it?"
He didn't answer her for a few minutes; his mind was awhirl with thoughts as pieces began to fall into place.
"Wolfram?"
He shook his head as the sounds of the fair seemed to rush back into his ears. He smiled down at his wife, who was looking up at him in concern, but then he looked back up at where he had last seen the Brotherhood elder.
"What is wrong, Wolfram?"
"Nothing, my dear." he said in a voice that sounded fake to his own ears. "Nothing at all. Come, let us see the rest of the fair." He looked down at her and tried to put on a smile, but it came out looking more like a grimace. She gave him a disbelieving look, and he knew that she would demand answers once they were in the privacy of their own home, but for the moment she only nodded and let him lead her away.
Despite the thoughts swirling around in his mind, Wolfram still kept one ear on the conversations around them, and when Edeline stopped to look over bolts of silk that had come by way of the Silk Road. He simply stood to the side and watched the crowd going by as she haggled with the merchant. It helped that standing still allowed him to hear more than simply walking around would, and as usual, people were talking about that warrior again.
"Any idea where he went?"
"I heard he died after the battle with Satan."
"You didn't expect for anyone to fight Lucifer himself and live right?"
Laughter sounded from the crowd and then: "Any idea where he was from?"
"I heard he was from the Brotherhood."
"Everyone knows that one! I wanna know what his name was, and if he had pretty wife."
"So you can 'console' her?"
"I'm not going to deny that."
More laughter, and then a new voice joined the conversation. "His name was Gabriel Belmont." Wolfram looked towards the voices to see who had spoken, but it seemed to be just a group of merchants. Nothing out of the ordinary, but he still took note of the younger man, with the wavy brown hair and blue eyes, that had spoken before he turned back to his wife. If people noticed he was eavesdropping, they would go silent, like they feared offending him somehow.
"How do you know that?" one, the one that wanted to 'console' the warrior's wife, asked.
"I'm from that area, and I met him a time or two."
"Belmont? That's not any noble name that I know of."
"That's because he's not a noble, or at least, not an acknowledged one."
"What's that mean?"
"He was left on the Brotherhood's doorstep as an infant. Some say he was a bastard child from one of the noble families."
"Well, if he is, I bet they're regretting dumping him now! Imagine how much bragging they could do over one of their own defeating Satan!"
The group laughed again, and Wolfram heard someone bang a metal tankard on a tabletop. "So which family left him? Anyone know?"
"No one knows for sure, but the most popular rumor is that the Cronqvists -" Wolfram felt his heart stop for a moment. "- dumped him."
The group jeered the speaker, and someone else began to speak, but Wolfram was no longer listening. He stepped up to Edeline, who was still haggling over prices with the merchant. "We have to go now." he said in her ear, and he didn't give her a chance to answer before he began to pull away towards where their carriage was waiting to take them home. He almost imagined that he could hear the pieces in his mind clicking together to form a horrible conclusion that was unthinkable, but it made so much sense. He needed answers, and he knew where he needed to go to get them.
******
A/N 2: Gabriel's parts are so hard to write, since they're just him slowly losing his mind, but the parts with Edeline and Wolfram move much quicker, since they're the ones actually driving the plot at this point. I spent weeks trying to write Gabriel's section in this chapter, and then churned out Wolfram's part in less than a day. Go figure.
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