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Blood Is Chapter 4
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 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: Aaaaaand Chapter 2 edited! I can't believe that I completely forgot to put that little detail in...
4.
There was a hand stroking his hair.
Gabriel stirred slightly from his exhausted sleep, but he did not brush the touch away. Why waste the energy?
Rest, Gabriel. came a voice that sounded completely different from the voices he'd heard previously. Be strong and have faith that things will get better soon.
"I just want this to end." he whispered without opening his eyes.
I understand, and the Lord does as well. Have patience, Gabriel; you still have a purpose.
"I'm so tired. I don't want to fight anymore."
Rest, regain your strength. Resist the evil of this place for as long as you can. Help will be arriving soon
"Who would want to help me? After everything..."
The hand gently threaded through his hair, and the touch felt soothing and comforting, opposite of what the others felt like. More than you know, Gabriel. Now rest; you don't have much longer to wait.
With a soft sigh, Gabriel curled up on his side, and just for a moment, he felt safe and protected, as though he was at home with Marie instead of trapped inside a crumbling castle.
Go to sleep, Gabriel. I am with you.
"Always?"
For a brief second, he had the impression that the voice smiled at him. Always.
With a soft sigh, Gabriel drifted off into a peaceful sleep, soothed by the hand that was still running through his hair.
******
My lord?
Gabriel?
My lord, you must wake.
Gabriel stirred at the hated sound, and his heart ached as the wonderful dream he'd been having vanished as he woke up.
We need you, Gabriel.
"Why won't you leave me alone?" he groaned as he sat up. He rubbed at his eyes and saw that he was still in the alcove that he had fallen asleep in. Faint moonlight was streaming in through small cracks in the vaulted ceiling. How long had he slept? He hadn't slept like that since...
"Come to bed, Gabriel." Marie beckoned from their bed. "It's late."
He remembered that well. The next morning they had gone for a walk together and he had met a member of the Brotherhood that he did not know; an older man with even older armor...
No! he though as he shook his head violently. He wasn't going to think of that again!
The room around him titled slightly as the head shaking made him dizzy, and his thirst flared to life, stronger than before. How long could he go without drinking blood? A week? Two weeks? Months? He wished Laura had thought to explain things to him before she died. Was that normal, for a young vampire like him to be on their own with no one to guide or look after him?
We will guide you.
We will look after you.
Blood seeped down the crumbled wall on his right, which caused him to scoot away from it, but it simply dribbled down the floor and oozed after him. He scooted away again, until he was huddled by the left wall, and he tried not to think of how he was essentially cowering away from it. He drew his knees up and tucked his arms against his chest.
You thirst, my lord.
You must drink.
"No, I will not."
You mustn't weaken yourself.
"Go away."
We need you.
"But I don't need you!" he howled in sudden anger. "So leave me alone!"
No, we will not allow this.
You cannot leave us.
"I will!"
No...
Gabriel jerked his head away from an invisible hand that sought to grab him by the chin, for reasons he was sure that he could guess. "I will not drink!" He turned his head away from the bloodied wall and hid his face in the rough surface of the other wall next to him. "I won't..."
******
Edeline looked silently at her husband as the carriage bounced down the rutted muddy road. He looked back at her, also without saying a word. Nothing needed to be said; they each knew well what was at stake.
To their surprise, the Brotherhood of Light had readily agreed to allow Wolfram to visit their compound, and Edeline had wondered if there was a reason for their haste. Hoping to get it done and over with, perhaps? Aware that maybe delaying the visit would seem suspicious? Hopefully, the Brotherhood hadn't had enough time to remove any traces of Mathias from the compound, but she was sure that they were already hard at work at that.
She agreed wholeheartedly with Wolfram that it had been the Brotherhood that had taken their son all those years ago, just as she also shared his belief that this Gabriel Belmont that they had been hearing about could be him. Other than the rumor that he was a unwanted bastard child of the Cronqvist family, there was no evidence or proof that he was their son, but...
Somehow she knew. She knew with all of her heart and soul that Gabriel and Mathias were one and the same. Now they just had to find him and bring him home.
"Do you think he survived?" she asked quietly as she stared out the small carriage window. If the rumors about Gabriel battling Satan himself were true, then there was little hope that he had lived after it was done. Surely such a battle would have left him seriously hurt, at the very least?
"I do not know." Wolfram replied. "I don't know what to believe at the moment. Part of me believes that this is just a wild goose chase; that Gabriel is not our son despite the rumors about him. I do not want to get my hopes up. Finding our son after all these years only to lose him again?"
Edeline shivered. She didn't want to think of that. "I hope we find him. I hope he's alive. I hope we can bring him home."
"As do I. You realize though, that if Gabriel is indeed our son, then he may not want to come with us."
"I know." Edeline whispered. "If he grew up believing that he wasn't wanted, then he may refuse to have anything to do with us."
"He was raised by the Brotherhood, and they are the only family he knows. He may simply not want to leave them behind."
"I can only hope that he will at least give us a chance to explain."
Wolfram nodded in understanding, and then he moved from the opposite bench and settled down next to her. His arm came around her shoulders and she leaned into his embrace, and the rest of the ride passed in silence.
******
"Welcome Lord Cronqvist, Lady Cronqvist." said the young squire as Edeline and Wolfram alighted from their carriage in front of the Brotherhood's compound. Edeline looked up as she stepped down to the packed dirt drive, and she was surprised at what she saw.
The compound was smaller than what she had envisioned. It appeared to be four long buildings joined together to form a square, and though she couldn't see it, she was certain there was a central courtyard. Off to the left was a sizable barn and stables, and fields with neat rows of wheat sprawled out behind the complex. Here and there small houses were cropping up in the woods around the compound, and it appeared as though a village was growing up around it.
She took Wolfram's arm as they were led into the building, and they stepped into a warmly lit entrance hall. Other than banners hanging from the walls and the high vaulted ceiling, there wasn't anything in the way of decoration. Torches dotted the stone walls, and a large brick fireplace, tall enough for her to stand upright in, was the centerpiece of the wall opposite the front door. Right now a fire was burning merrily away, and it was enough to keep the large, high ceilinged room pleasantly warm.
The heavy oak doors shut behind them, and she shivered slightly. Though the room was bright and cheery, something felt... off to her. She couldn't put her finger on it, but something was wrong, a tenseness to the atmosphere that she couldn't explain. She felt Wolfram stiffen slightly beside her; he felt it too.
"Greetings, my lord, my lady." came a familiar voice, and Edeline looked away from the fireplace to see Cardinal Volpe come through an open door from section of the building that formed the right side of the square.
"Greetings, Cardinal." Wolfram said formally, and Edeline echoed the greeting, grateful that she wouldn't be expected to speak much during the visit. She was already having a difficult time keeping her thoughts and questions to herself. Being asked to speak would make the task that much harder.
"I understand you're here to see our lands and buildings? To see how much space a new compound will take up on your lands?"
"Yes, I would like to see for myself how much you will sprawl in the future, especially since I see signs that a village is starting to develop here."
"Indeed. If you will follow me?"
"Lead the way."
For the next hour, Edeline and Wolfram followed the Cardinal all over the compound. The place bustled with activity, with men and boys of all ages cooking, cleaning, studying, training, farming, and tending to livestock. There were no servants, it was explained, everyone had chores to do, and those chores rotated on a schedule. The only one that was not part of the rotation was the nursemaid that cared for the smallest children, and that was because she had her hands full as it was. She was also the only woman in residence. Abandoned girls that were left with them were fostered out to area families. Only boys were kept.
Edeline smiled at the thought of children. "May we see the nursery?" she asked eagerly.
Cardinal Volpe stiffened slightly, and he gave them an apologetic smile that trembled a tiny bit. "I'm afraid not, my lady. Right now the children would be having their midday meal followed by their afternoon nap. We wouldn't want to disturb them."
"Of course, I understand."
"Shall we continue the tour?"
"Lead on, sir." Wolfram said with a nod, but as soon as the man's back was turned, his gaze flicked to meet hers, and a look of understanding passed between them.
The rest of the tour passed without incident, and Edeline tried not to let her disappointment show. She had looked everywhere, but there had been no sign that their son had ever lived there. To further her disappointment, no one had mentioned Gabriel Belmont at any time during the tour either. Since he was rumored to have defeated Satan, she would have expected them to boast about him at every chance, yet they had kept silent about him.
The returned to the entrance hall and prepared to leave.
"I hope you'll have good news for us soon, Lord Cronqvist." the Cardinal said easily.
"I hope the same. We will see when you're surveyors report back to me." Wolfram replied.
"Yes, they have written to report that they..." Edeline tuned out the Cardinal's voice – for some reason hearing the man speak irked her.
She looked away from him, and a soft giggle fell on her ears. She blinked and looked towards the doorway that led into the left side of the compound, the side that housed the nursery. Just inside the doorway, barely visible in the low light, was a small child perhaps about two or so. He was dressed in a sleeping gown and a tiny pair of socks, and his sleep tousled hair was a dark blond that was on the cusp of turning brown. She couldn't make out his eye color with her failing sight, but they didn't appear to be dark.
"Trevor Belmont!" came a woman's voice, low and annoyed, from down the corridor, and the little boy darted into the entrance hall. He toddled over to Edeline and hid behind her skirt as Wolfram and the Cardinal stopped their conversation and watched. She smiled down at him, and he looked up at her with a smile of his own that melted her heart and reached his tiny arms up to her.
"Up!" he commanded.
She didn't hesitate; she reached down and picked him up, and had him settled on her hip just as a woman, the nurse obviously, came into the room.
"Trevor Belmont!" she scolded as she walked towards Edeline and the boy. "You're supposed to be asleep, young man."
The little boy, Trevor, giggled, and his eyes sparked with mischief, and Edeline sucked in a breath.
His eyes were green, a soft pastel green.
The same shade of green as Mathias' eyes.
The same shade of green as her own.
"I apologize, my lady." came the nurse's voice, and Trevor was snatched from her arms. She then began to walk away, back towards the nursery presumably, as Edeline reached out without thinking about it. Wolfram gently pushed her arms down as Trevor was carried away, being scolded the entire time.
"Gabriel Belmont's son?" he asked the Cardinal with one eyebrow raised.
"Yes," the Cardinal admitted with a slow nod. "His mother died when he was an infant, so his father entrusted him to our care before he left on his quest."
"Did he not return for his son?"
"Sadly, Gabriel Belmont did not survive his wounds once his battles were complete."
"Such a shame then."
"Indeed, and now I must offer you my apologies, but the hour grows late, and there are tasks I must attend to. I wish you and your wife a safe journey home and hope to hear from you soon."
"Thank you Cardinal, for your kind words as well as the opportunity to see what you have built here. I'm sure I will be in touch shortly."
Before Edeline could say anything, Wolfram took her by the arm and led her out of the building and towards their carriage.
"Wolfram!" she hissed in outrage.
"Not now." he said in a harsh whisper. "Wait until we're away from here."
"But Wolfram, that boy!"
"I know, Edeline! But now is not the time or the place!"
"Lord Cronqvist?"
Wolfram and Edeline stopped abruptly at the hushed call, and they spotted what appeared to be a young stable hand, if the smell of horse manure that clung to him was any indication, with wavy brown hair and blue eyes. He was crouched down behind a bush, and he took a quick glance about before he stood up and approached them. Edeline took an involuntary step back as he moved closer.
"I heard you asking about Gabriel Belmont." he said quietly once he was close to them.
"Yes," Wolfram said quietly, "What can you tell us?"
"The Cardinal was lying to you." The young man frowned in disapproval. "Gabriel Belmont is alive, in a way."
"Where is he then? Where can we find him?" Edeline asked quickly as her heart soared with sudden hope. He was alive!
The stable hand took a furtive glance around. "He's in Bernhard Castle." he said. "If you hope to find him, then you must hurry. Leave immediately. You don't have much time."
"What do you mean by that?" Wolfram demanded.
"You have to hurry!" the stable hand insisted. "His strength is failing even as we speak. You're his only hope. Now go!"
Wolfram nodded, and without a word, he opened the carriage door and helped Edeline climb in.
"May my Lord go with you." the stable hand said quietly, and as Wolfram walked forward to speak to the driver, she looked out the window to thank him, but he was nowhere in sight. She heard Wolfram give instructions to the driver, and then he climbed in and shut the door. With a jolt, the carriage started to roll away from the Brotherhood's compound, and once they were off of the drive and onto the main road, she leaned back against the seat and leveled a steely look at her husband.
He held up his hand. "I know, Edeline." he looked out the window at the rolling countryside. "I am fully aware that Trevor Belmont is likely our grandson." He sighed heavily, looking every one of his 63 years. "I wanted to take him as much as you did."
"Then why? He's ours, Wolfram!"
"Because we can't prove it. Right now, the Cardinal is hopefully completely ignorant of our suspicions, and I want to keep it that way until we've found Gabriel and brought him safely home. Once we can prove that Gabriel is our son, then we will return for Trevor."
She crossed her arms over her chest. "He couldn't have stopped us."
"Yes, he could have, Edeline, and you know it! Right now, thanks to Gabriel's heroics, the Brotherhood can do no wrong in the people's eyes. How will people react if word got around that we were trying to steal the man's only child? One he entrusted to the Brotherhood's care?"
Edeline bowed her heard and closed her eyes, conceding the point, but it was so difficult. She could still feel the boy's warm weight in her arms and see that angelic face smiling at her. "I know, Wolfram, and my mind understands what you're saying, but my heart..." She let out a trembling sigh.
She heard him get up and then a second later, he settled down beside her, and she leaned against him as he put his arms around her. "I know." he said gently. "Trevor is fine where he is at for right now. They are obviously taking good care of him, so let's leave him for now, and focus on Gabriel."
She nodded, and then she sat up and looked at him with worry. "But Bernhard Castle? Why would Gabriel go to that God accursed place? What could he have been thinking?"
"I don't know." Wolfram whispered. "He had to have known about the reputation that the castle has, but I suppose we'll be able to ask him when we get there."
"How long?"
"It's an eight day journey from here, and no matter how much I wish we could move faster, it's just not possible."
She closed her eyes again and leaned back into his embrace. "I hope that he'll be happy to see us." she said softly.
"So do I."
They said nothing more as the carriage rolled down the dirt road, but the stable hand's words still echoed in her mind.
You don't have much time.
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I haven't enjoyed writing a story so much in a long time - I'm really glad that Fridge Horror struck me a while back. Things should start moving along faster in the next chapter.
And yes, little Trevor is just so adorable. I want to squeeze him. ^_^
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I'm really glad that you're enjoying writing this. It's very fun to read. I like that you're using Trevor's eye colour in MoF. One of the things which struck me as a clue that boy Trevor could actually Al in disguise in LoS2 is that his eyes are a muted brown-gold, not the colour you see adult Trevor having in MoF.
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Is very fun, and hopefully the chapters will start getting longer too.
I wish they would go into more detail about LoS2 Trevor. Is he a projection of Dracula's mind? Is he a mental projection done by Alucard to guide his father around? Is he just something the dev team thought would be cool and didn't plan any further? *sigh*
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