Blood Is Chapter 3

[eiahmon]

Title: Blood Is
Rating: PG-13
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.

3.

Gabriel stared silently up at the vaulted ceiling above him, as he lay sprawled out on the floor where he had been left. He'd exhausted himself trying to get away from the... whatever that had been, and he'd collapsed not longer after they'd dragged him into a small dark room and let go of him. He hadn't moved since then. What was the purpose?

You must drink, my lord.

He ignored the voice as well as the thirst that tickled the back of his throat. If they wouldn't let him die in the sun, then he would end it by starving himself. They couldn't force him to drink, could they?

We need you strong.

"Go away," he whispered tiredly as he wiped at his eyes. It was pure habit; sand did not accumulate in his eyes anymore. There were so many things that were different about him now. He knew he could run faster than any human could, and he knew that his senses had sharpened considerably. He could see the individual dust motes wedged in the cracks of the stone walls, and he could hear the faint voices from the village below, despite the multitude of thick stone walls that surrounded him.

Even in the windowless, lightless room, Gabriel could easily see the door, and he dragged himself to his feet and walked towards it, half expecting it to disappear. It opened easily however, but once again, he found himself in an area that he did not recognize. He needed a map...

You belong here with us.

Blood burbled up in front of him through a crack in the stone floor, but he ignored it and walked past, despite the burning in his veins from the tantalizing scent.

Please drink, my lord.

He said nothing as he walked down the corridor. He wouldn't give the voices the satisfaction of getting a response out of him. He was going to end it, one way or another.

You know what happens to suicides, my lord.

He wouldn't be welcome in Heaven anyway.

The hours ticked by as he wandered through the crumbling halls, stairs, and rooms of Bernhard Castle, though, after some time had passed, he noticed that he was going in circles. No matter which direction he went or which corridors he took, he always ended up in the same places every time. Didn't this place have an exit? He knew the castle to be massive from his previous visits, so why couldn't he find the rest of it?

And why did he care to begin with?

As he wandered through the area (How many loops had he made? Two? Three? A hundred?) blood burbled up through cracks in the floor and in vases and basins as he passed, and the whispers entreated him to drink, to not weaken himself by starving, but he ignored them. Tired from walking, he sat down on the floor in a large circular room, with a statue of three girls in the center, and drew his knees up to his chest and laid his head down on them. The candles in the room (Who had lit them anyway, he wondered.) dimmed when he sighed, and the sound echoed off the patterned floor and crumbling walls.

A cold hand brushed his cheek. My lord...

He jerked his head to the side. "Do not touch me!" he snarled.

Blood bubbled up through the floor by his right hand. We don't want you to go without, my lord.

"I will do as I wish. And I am not your lord!" He snatched his hand away and tried to ignore the aching of his fangs.

We need you strong.

We need you to help us.

He felt another brush against his cheek, which prompted him to leap to his feet. "I am through helping others!" he howled at the ceiling, which caused dust to sift down from it. "Look at what it has gotten me! I've lost everything! I have nothing..." He dropped back to the floor as his throat closed up. "Nothing left..." he whispered, and even this softer sound echoed down the halls and rooms like it had been shouted.

You have us now.

"I don't want you. I don't need you."

But you do. We will take the place of what was lost. We will ease the ache in your soul.

He squeezed his eyes shut as his heart constricted in pain. "You cannot replace Marie!"

She is gone.

She left you.

You no longer need her.

He opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling as drops of blood began to drip down onto his face. His body burned with thirst, but he didn't attempt to drink them. "Marie..." The name came out as a pained gasp. The smell of blood grew stronger, and he looked around to see blood bubbling up from every crack and crevice in the walls and floor, as well from the eyes of the statue he was leaning against. It oozed towards him, and it made him think of a snake preparing to snare its prey.

Drink.

"No."

The blood crept ever closer. Drink, my lord.

A hand cupped his face, like a lover preparing to bestow a kiss, and he surged to his feet. "No!" and ran from the room.

You cannot run away.

We will find you.

His bootfalls echoed against the dilapidated walls as he fled down the corridors, paying no mind as to where he was going. He had to get away from... He would not drink what they offered him. He would die first! He leapt down a flight of stairs, and he didn't break stride as he ran on, until he came to a dead end, with a crumbling wall, and a broken metal gate higher up. He didn't hesitate or even thing about what he was doing, he simply scrambled up the wall and through the broken gate and found himself himself in a small alcove, formed by a collapsed ceiling. Wherever the alcove had once led to was no longer accessible by the cave in, but he did not care. He scrabbled as far away from the opening as he could and huddled in a shivering ball against the rubble. He cared little for the damage the sharp stones were doing to his already shredded clothing as he buried his face in his arms and began to cry.

"Marie..."

******

Wolfram leaned against the desk in his study and eyed the group that was lined up across from him. There were sixteen of them, servants and guardsmen that had been in the house the night Mathias had been stolen from his cradle and had survived the attack. He swept his gaze across them, wondering if their answers to the questions he was about to ask would confirm his suspicion, a suspicion that was rapidly growing into a certainty the longer he thought about it. He didn't want it to be true; his mind shied away from the mere idea, but he couldn't deny the direction his thoughts were leading him.

Edeline was seated nearby, also looking at the group in front of them. He hadn't told her his suspicion, but by the look in her eyes and the worry on her face, he could tell that things were beginning to fall into place for her as well. That was more proof for him that he was correct.

And it was terrifying.

The question was why? Why would the Brotherhood do such a thing? What drove them to break into his house, attack his servants, kill his guardsmen, and kidnap his infant son? Did they need Mathias for something? Surely they weren't short on warriors as their ranks were full of second sons, orphans, homeless, and those cast away by the rest of society. As long as one was willing to do the work and follow the training, the Brotherhood accepted all, so why?

Pushing those thoughts to the side for the moment, Wolfram turned his attention to those standing in front of him.

"All of you, no matter your profession or place in the household, have one thing in common." he began, and they looked between themselves and then at him in confusion. "You were all here the night my son was stolen from his cradle, and all of you managed to survive that night with your lives. Now I need each and every one of you to do something for me, something very important, but first, I need your solemn vow that you will keep this between those of us in this room for now."

"My lord," spoke up one of the maids, "we're all concerned. You seem very worried about something, and we'll do what we can to help. What is wrong?"

There were nods and murmurs of agreement from the others, and for a moment Wolfram felt a warm glow at the loyalty of his staff, but he still needed to be careful. He needed to make sure that nothing got out until he was sure of his suspicions and could act on them.

"Swear to me first." he said firmly. "Swear to me that you will keep this discussion to yourself. Swear to me that you will not discuss it anywhere but in this room with each other and myself. I do not want to hear a breath of this anywhere else; am I clear?" He looked at each on in turn and met their eyes, and they all nodded in understanding.

"I swear, my lord." the maid said firmly, and the others quickly echoed her sentiment.

Wolfram nodded with satisfaction. "I need all of you to think of the night that Mathias was stolen, and I need you to try and recall every little detail of the attack that you can. And I mean everything; how many attackers there were, who they seemed to be taking orders from, how they moved, what weapons and skills they used, how they were dressed, what features of their faces and bodies that you noticed. Everything. This is very important."

There was a gasp, from his librarian, an ancient fellow with long, thin fingers, long white hair, and a beard to match that had been getting on in years when Wolfram himself had been a boy. "You know who took the little master, don't you?"

Wolfram held up his hands. "All I have is a suspicion for right now. I cannot act on it until I have more proof. Anything you tell me could help confirm or deny."

There was silence for a long moment as the group thought back to that day 33 years ago, and Wolfram remembered the terror of coming home to find that his house had been attacked, the horror of those killed, and the sicking realization that his son was gone. It had been a horrible day for everyone, but maybe, just maybe, they would finally be able to set things right.

"They all wore red leather armor with black hoods." one of the guardsmen said slowly after a few minutes. "I remember that clearly, and their hoods were very large, and made it difficult to see their faces."

"Yes, I remember that too." added the housekeeper. Years ago, she had been a chamber maid, but she had risen to her current position after years of hard work. "A few had cloaks that were red, bright red, like... like blood, but even those hoods were black."

"I got a good look at one as they went past me." said Wolfram's valet, who had been a hall boy that day "I was hidden in an alcove so they didn't see me, but I remember that he was also wearing the red armor, trimmed in gold, and had a strange skull figure on the front. It didn't have a lower jaw, and the teeth of the upper jaw were very long and pointed."

"Most of them used swords," said one of the cooks, who had been a scullery maid on that long ago day. "But some of them used spears and staffs, and there was one who used... I'm not sure if it was a shepherd's crook with a blade added on or a spear shaped like a shepherd's crook."

An apt description of Cardinal Volpe's preferred weapon, Wolfram thought.

"Some of them also used magic of some kind," added the librarian. "I've never seen anything like it."

"Yes, I saw that too," said another guardsman. "Some of them glowed blue, and when they did, any injuries that they had sustained seemed to heal themselves. When they glowed reddish orange, they seemed to hit harder and do more damage with their own attacks."

"They moved with military precision, and once they had gotten what they had come for," said a third guardsman, "they just seemed to vanish and disappeared into the shadows outside like they had never been there. They took their dead and injured with them, and if it hadn't been for the dead and damage to us that they left behind, one couldn't tell that they had been there at all."

There were nods of agreement from the others, but the discussion was interrupted by a knock at the study door. One of the younger servants then opened in a crack and stuck her head in. "My apologies for interrupting my lord," she said meekly, "but there are two from the Brotherhood of Light here to see you."

"Give us another moment and then send them up." Wolfram instructed. The girl nodded and left, pulling the door closed behind her, and Wolfram turned to face the group in front of them. He could see sudden comprehension dawning in many of their eyes. "Not a word of this," he warned quietly. "I do not want to hear one breath of this outside of this room. Am I understood?" There were nods all around. "Keep your silence on this matter and let me deal with it. You are dismissed; return to your duties."

The group filed out, and once they were gone, and the study door was closed behind them, Edeline finally spoke.

"You believe the Brotherhood took our son." she said quietly as she kept her eyes fixed on the door that their servants had just departed through.

Wolfram nodded while also looking at the door. "I do." he whispered. "I can't believe I never though of it before, but..." He shrugged helplessly.

"It is hard to think of. Who wants to think that those sworn to protect would kidnap a baby and kill those trying to protect him?"

"My thoughts exactly."

There was another knock on the study door, and it opened at Wolfram's call. The butler stepped in and sketched a short bow at the waist out of proper respect for the lord and lady. "Sirs Eric and Daniel from the Brotherhood of Light, my lord, my lady." He then stepped to the side and allowed two men to walk in. They two bowed at the waist, and Wolfram waved for them to stand in front of him. As they approached the desk, he couldn't help but notice that their red leather armor was trimmed in gold colored edging, and that both of them wore a strange looking skull insignia on their front... with no lower jaw, and long pointed teeth...

"You are the ones that Cardinal Volpe sent to survey?" he asked them, and they nodded.

"Yes, Lord Cronqvist."

"You may start immediately. My only requirements at this point is that you keep away from homes, villages, and farmland if possible, and that you come to me if you find something suitable."

"We understand, my lord."

Wolfram had an idea. "Would it be possible for my wife and myself to visit your compound?"

The two men started, but Wolfram could detect no sign of nervousness or anxiousness at the request. "I'm sure that something could be arranged, but may we ask why?"

"I would like to see your compound and see just how large it is and how much you will sprawl out in the future."

"We will speak to Cardinal Volpe, my lord, and see what he says, but I don't think there will be any difficulty in arranging a visit."

Wolfram nodded. "Thank you. Now I'm sure that you would like to get started, so off you go. Get back to me when you've found something suitable."

"Yes, my lord. By your leave?"

Wolfram nodded, and the two left the study, moving a little faster than strictly necessary, he thought.

Once they were gone, and the door was once again closed, Edeline spoke up again.

"Why do you want to visit their compound?"

"Because if Mathias was there, there has to be some sign of him remaining, and I intend to find it."

Edeline nodded in understanding, and the pair remained where they were, sitting in thoughtful silence until they were called for dinner.

Family: 2 - Family: 4
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