eiahmon | Blood Is Chapter 15

Here we go again. XD

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 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: I made a small change to the very last section of Chapter 14 (Adelar's last part) to get it lined up with the story's timeline. Nothing major, but that scene was supposed to take place the day after Gabriel left, but it looked like it happened on the same day, so I had to fix that.
A/N: I find it funny that the faster the fic's pacing moves, the faster I write. XD

15.

"Greatness awaits you in the future, young Gabriel." Volpe had told him during their first face to face meeting.

"Really?"

"Indeed, and you must be ready for it."

"How do I make myself ready?"

"By training as hard as you can, by being the best warrior that we have, that is how. Do that, and I assure you that your destiny will roll out before you like a road."

"I understand, Cardinal."

The sound of crickets fell upon Gabriel's ears as he came to awareness. He slowly sat up as the long forgotten memory faded from his mind, and wrinkled his nose in disgust at the smell of rotting wood. The small, ruined shack that he had lain down in had sheltered him from the sun well enough, but as sleeping places go, it was certainly not the best place. Sleeping in an unfamiliar place probably hadn't been the safest option, but if the rotting floorboards, cracking walls, collapsing roof, and overgrown yard were any indication, then no one had been in the area for quite some time.

A quick glance through the lopsided holes where windows used to be confirmed that the sun was nearly down for the day, and he stood and stretched before brushing bits of wood and dirt off of his clothes. He then cocked his head and reached out with his senses, which caused him to learn multiple things at once.

One, no humans were nearby. Two, most of the wildlife had fled at his approach. Animals didn't like vampires it seemed, well, either that or they didn't like the demonic power that he possessed. At any rate, those two facts would make finding a meal a little more difficult. Three, there were humans in the vicinity, but they were a ways off, perhaps a mile or so. He could faintly hear the collective voices that made up a small village from somewhere to his north. Four, he was getting close to his destination. He could hear faint conversation about the Brotherhood, and those faint snatches of speech informed him that the compound was close by. His and Marie's home had been a half day's journey by horse northeast of it.

He had made good time after leaving the Cronqvist house, and he had crawled under some fallen trees to wait out the day at sunrise. At nightfall, a deer had provided his breakfast, and he had continued on, crossing over onto Joseph Rosier's land just after midnight. From there he had moved in a straight, diagonal line, heading for his old home, for the next two nights, before bedding down in the abandoned shack to wait out the day.

He expected to reach the Brotherhood compound sometime after midnight, and he would reach his old home by dawn, at the rate he was moving. He had hoped to have gotten there already, but he had to be careful so he wouldn't be seen, and that slowed him considerably. Still, he had covered a great deal of distance in the two and a half nights that he had been on the move. He was sure that the Cronqvists had discovered his absence the morning after his departure, just as he was sure they had sent out the search parties not long after. Discreet ones of course, they couldn't announce to the world that they were searching for a vampire, after all.

Of course, they might not have. Maybe upon realizing that he had gone, they had shrugged their shoulders, and let it go. After all keeping a vampire, even one that had saved the world, would no doubt bring danger and the threat of ruin to them, so maybe they had decided he wasn't worth the risk. His chest tightened then, and he took a deep breath that was released as a sigh. He hoped that they hadn't, he told himself. He was better off on his own.

The last sliver of red sunlight vanished below the horizon, so he listened around again for any people, and then he stepped out of the old shack and into the undergrowth around it. His hearing picked up the rapid heartbeat of a small animal not too far away, and he moved towards it quickly. He would catch a meal, and then he would continue his journey.

******

Edeline nodded to Sir Pershan as she climbed inside the carriage. She seated herself as the door shut behind her, and a few moments later, the carriage jolted forward and began to move away from the inn she had stayed the night at. Out of the windows she could see two of the guards that Wolfram had sent with her. A third would be riding in front of the carriage, with a fourth behind it. Before they had not taken any guards to enable them to move faster, but this time, Wolfram had refused to let her go without them. He had not objected to her going to search for Gabriel, to her surprise, but he had not been able to accompany her.

"I cannot go with you, Edeline." her husband said with a serious look on his face.

"Why ever not, Wolfram? Gabriel needs both of us, and it will be easier to convince him to come home if we both are there."

"I cannot leave the house at this moment." He frowned. "My brother is planning something, and I dare not leave him unwatched right now."

"Do you know what?"

"No, but he's been too quiet about Gabriel's presence here, so I fear he has some scheme playing out in that head of his. No, it will be safer if I stay here. I'll be able to keep the house and estate running smoothly, and he will be less likely to try anything if I am close by."

"So I am going alone?"

"No, you are not. John is going with you, as well as three of his best men."

"That will slow me down."

"It will also keep you alive long enough to find Gabriel. The only reason we survived our last journey, Edeline, was because Gabriel felt threatened enough to attack those highwaymen. You don't have him this time."

She had agreed to the guards, and she had packed what she would need for the journey. She hadn't been planning to go too far, just to the Brotherhood compound and the house that Gabriel had lived with his wife in, if she could find it. There was really nowhere else that she knew to look, other than the ruins of Bernhard Castle. She hoped that Gabriel wasn't going there, for his own sake. Even with the castle in ruins, it could still have power of some kind to snare him, and she wouldn't be able to get him out of there a second time.

That was even if he wanted to return with her.

Still, one thing that Wolfram said to her as she was getting into the carriage to depart kept playing over and over in her mind, and it worried her a great deal.

"Edeline,"

She paused as she began to step up into the carriage and turned to face her husband, who was standing behind her.

"Wolfram?"

He stepped up to her, but he did not reach out to embrace her like she was expecting. "Edeline," he told her seriously, "No matter what happens, whether Gabriel agrees to come back with you or not, do not, under any circumstances, allow the Brotherhood to get their hands on him."

She knew that, of course, but something about her husband's face, the seriousness of his tone, set her to worrying. "You know something, Wolfram. What is it?"

His eyes darted to the side, but Pershan and his men were ignoring their conversation, as was proper. "I looked into the mirror, Edeline, and I saw what will happen to Gabriel if Volpe gets his claws into him again. Do not let them have him. Even if you have to delay them so him can run away, do not let them have our son."

"Oh my God, what will he do?"

"Don't worry about it right now; I'll tell you when Gabriel is safe back home. Just don't let them touch him." He then embraced her like she had expected him to do in the first place, and then he turned and walked back inside, while she stared after him for a moment.

"My lady?" Sir Pershan asked. "Are you ready to go?"

"Yes," she replied, still staring after his husband, "let us be off." She turned, climbed inside the carriage, and sat down. The door shut, and it began to roll down the drive towards the road.

She was suddenly grateful for the presence of Sir Pershan and his men as the memory made her shiver, and her hands tightly gripped the fabric of her dress. No, Volpe would not be getting his hands on her baby, not if she had anything to do about it.

******

Gabriel's ears twitched as the faint sounds of very familiar voices touched them. He paused where he stood under the thick canopy of trees and listened, and he smiled widely when he confirmed the identity of the voices. He hadn't intended to stop here, especially since he was so close to home, but he couldn't resist taking a quick peek.

He moved quickly through the the undergrowth, not caring about any noise he might make, and he soon broke through the treeline and came upon a welcome sight. The compound stood just as he remembered it, and as he raked his gaze over the building, he found himself picking out windows for various rooms, remembering what they were.

There was the nursery where he had lived until the age of six. There was the window for the simple room he had moved to after that; he'd cried his first night alone in there until the nurse had come to soothe him to sleep. There were the library windows, dark like most of the building this time of night, and there was the kitchen. Its windows were also dark, but within a few hours, the baker's assistants would be up, preparing bread for the day. And there, in a large room at the very back of the building, were Cardinal Volpe's personal chambers. Hmm, there was light shining through two of the windows where the man's personal study was located. What was that old man doing up so late?

His feet started moving before he even realized it, and he crept up to those windows, careful to stay out of the light so that no one inside would see him. The voices he had been hearing became louder as he went, and his heart leapt with sudden excitement when he identified three of them as Cardinal Volpe himself, Master Cecil, and Master Liam.

"Godspeed, Gabriel." Master Liam said as he mounted his horse to start his journey. "Come back to us safe."

Gabriel reached down from the saddle, and clasped the old man's hand gently in his own. "If God wills it, I will return, Master Liam."

"Remember what you were taught, Sir Gabriel; the world is depending on you."

"It will be done." Gabriel let go of his old teacher's hand, straightened up in the saddle, and then he clucked his tongue and urged his horse down the road, towards the village that held the gateway to the Lake of Oblivion.

"What is so urgent, Cardinal?" came Master Liam's voice from within the compound, and Gabriel shook away his memories and pressed himself against the cool stone wall of the building.

"I have received a most interesting letter." Cardinal Volpe replied.

"From who?" Master Cecil asked. "And why couldn't it wait until morning? None of us are young anymore, William."

"This is too important to wait until morning, Cecil. The letter is from Cordrin Cronqvist."

The room went silent for a second, and Gabriel frowned as he recognized the name as belonging to his supposed "uncle". Why would he be writing the Brotherhood? To tell them to come and get him, perhaps?

"What does he have to say?" Master Cecil asked in a quiet, serious tone. Gabriel heard clothing rustling, a paper being handed over, and the room went silent again as the letter was read by the other two.

"You said that Gabriel is dead." Master Liam said flatly, and Gabriel started to hear that. Dead? Well, in a way, but..

"I did," Cardinal Volpe replied, "but there is a reason for the deception."

"And what would that be? You told us he died battling Satan."

"That was done to prevent people from searching for him. Gabriel's tasks are not done, but to complete them, he has to be prepared. That would not have happened if he had been brought back here."

"Yes, well the Cronqvists have him now." Master Cecil said, which made Gabriel start again. "So that plan is in ruins."

"You knew about this, Cecil?" Master Liam sounded outraged.

"Yes, I knew from the beginning that Gabriel had a destiny ahead of him. Don't act innocent; you knew some of it too."

"Yes, I knew that he was fated to face the Lords of Shadow and Satan, but I didn't know anything about leaving him alone to rot after doing so!"

"Masters, please!" Cardinal Volpe said in a loud voice. "We have more important things to worry about right now. Gabriel is in the hands of Wolfram Cronqvist and his wife, and we know that they know that he is their son, otherwise he wouldn't have come for Trevor."

Trevor? Who is Trevor?

"Well good luck convincing him that!" Master Cecil laughed. "He had it drilled into his head his entire childhood that he was an unwanted bastard! They'll never get him to believe them."

Gabriel slumped down onto the grass against the wall. What? What did that mean?

"Wait," Gabriel could picture Master Liam shaking his head. "You mean to tell me that Gabriel was not an unwanted bastard child? That we lied to him his entire life?"

"Gabriel was born Mathias Cronqvist, the legitimate son of Wolfram and Edeline Cronqvist, their only child to live past birth." Cardinal Volpe said calmly and Gabriel felt his heart stop at the man's words. "But being raised in a noble household would not have been a suitable upbringing for the Chosen One, so we had to remove him."

A chair crashed to the floor. "Remove him! You sound like you're talking about a piece of broken furniture, not an innocent child!"

"An innocent child that was fated to save us all!" Master Cecil snapped. "Now calm yourself, Liam!"

"How many knew of this?"

"Not many." Volpe replied. "I knew of course, as did Cecil here. There were a few others that have since been taken care of, but everyone else knew to just discourage Gabriel from ever wondering about his origins."

"Discourage him alright." Master Liam sneered. "By making a seven year old boy scrub the entire kitchen for merely mentioning that he hoped his parents would come for him, and then lecture him for crying while he did it."

Gabriel drew his knees up to his chest and buried his face in his hands. Oh God, oh God, oh God!

"We couldn't risk him ever finding out the truth."

"Well, I'm sure the Cronqvists wasted no tell in telling him what you tried so hard to keep secret, so now what will you do?"

"We have to get Gabriel returned to us, one way or another. Trevor as well. His destiny is intertwined with Gabriel's, so we need them both."

"I hope you have a plan?" Cecil asked.

"Indeed. Gabriel will soon be back within our grasp and under our control once more."

Gabriel face was still hidden in his hands, which muffled the sob that slipped out, but apparently not enough.

"What was that?" said Master Liam, and Gabriel cringed.

"Check outside the windows." Volpe said sharply "We cannot allow this conversation to be overheard."

Gabriel pressed himself against the wall as footsteps neared the window, and he looked around, but there was no place to hide. He couldn't be seen! He didn't want Volpe to find him!

A shadow fell across the window, and there was the click of a latch coming undone.

No! Gabriel thought. You can't see me! And he squeezed his eyes shut and huddled down into the shadows.

Above him the window swung open, and he waited, waited for the shout that told him that he had been seen, waited for Liam to call his name, but there was nothing. A few seconds of silence, and then he heard the window shut, followed by the click of the latch sliding into place.

"Anything?" Volpe asked as Gabriel heard Liam sitting back down.

"Nothing. No one is out there."

"I will send a few men to check anyway."

Cecil stood up. "I'll take care of it. By your leave, Cardinal?" There was a second or two of silence, and then there were booted footsteps walking across the floor, the sound of a heavy oak door opening, more footsteps, then the sound of the door closing. Gabriel tracked the sound of Cecil walking through the compound, and he opened his eyes. How had he not been seen?

And why was everything so big?

He looked around, and realized that his head did not seem to turn as freely as it once did. What in the world...? He could still see just fine, but the blades of grass in front of him were immense. He swiveled one ear to keep a listen on Master Cecil, and..

Wait, swiveled?

He looked down at his feet, and instead of the leather boots he had been wearing, he saw two little paws with tiny claws coming out of the toes. Those paws were connected to furred legs, that led up to a small, furry body, and he lashed his hairless tail and twitched his whiskers in agitation as he tried to figure out how he had done this.

He had become a rat. A large brown rat. His fur was very thin and completely missing in places, his claws were a bit long for a rat's, his teeth were all long and sharply pointed, and he was certain this his beady eyes were red. No matter, he thought as he heard others rising from their beds and moving towards the front doors, the how wasn't important. Keeping close to the wall, he began to scurry away, using the grass to hide, and even in this new form, he could move quickly. He scampered across the yard, but as he neared the barn, his ears twitched at the faint sound of something else, something larger, moving towards him. He paused and raised his nose, and he detected the smell of a cat nearby.

He turned to the right and sure enough, there it was, a large orange tabby, creeping towards him. He laid his ears flat against his head, and hissed, a sound that he was certain he had never heard a rat make before. The cat paused, and then it backed up a step and growled. Gabriel took a step towards it, hissing, and as the cat backed up another step, he ran towards it, streaking through the grass. The cat laid its own ears back and hissed at him, before it turned tail and ran back to the barn.

With that annoyance gone, Gabriel ran the rest of the way to the shelter of the treeline just as he heard people coming outside behind him. He kept running, ducking under tree roots and climbing over rocks, until he was far enough into the trees that he didn't have to worry about being seen. He then closed his eyes again and tried to will himself back to his normal form, and when he opened them again, everything was normal sized, and a quick look confirmed that he was back to normal.

He turned towards the direction he had come from and listened as the men searched the grounds. He couldn't see them through the trees, but their voices and heartbeats told him clearly where they were, and he could hear Cecil issuing orders to check everything.

Master Cecil, one of his beloved teachers, someone that he had once looked up to and admired.

Someone that had set him up.

Someone that had lied to him.

Someone that knew full well that he was alive and in need of help.

Gabriel turned away and began to run through the woods, picking up speed as he went, as his heart began to hurt. He ran, as though he hoped to outrun the betrayal behind him. He ran, ignoring the tears that blurred his vision as he went.

He ran without thinking, without paying any attention to his direction, but his feet knew where they were going, and it seemed like only minutes had passed when his teary eyes fell upon a welcome sight.

The wooden door was still hanging neatly from its iron strap hinges, the windows were all in place, at least the ones he could see, and the chimney still stood straight and tall above the roof. His old home appeared to be untouched, and the door opened on its own as he stumbled towards it. He staggered inside, and the door closed behind him.

There was the bench where he sat to take his muddy boots off so he wouldn't track mud all of the floors, there were the pegs were cloaks and caps could be hung. There were the chairs he had carved and assembled himself in front of the large double sided cobblestone fireplace that took up the center wall of the living room. To his left was the open kitchen with its own smaller fireplace, and the large dining table with its two chairs, one at each end, and the long benches along the sides. He and Marie had wanted a large family.

The fireplaces were cold and empty, a heavy layer of dust covered everything, and moonlight shown down through holes in the roof thatch. A lifetime ago, he would have repaired those holes as quickly as possible, but now, he didn't care. He wandered through the dark, empty house to the single door on the right side of the fireplace. Beyond that was a room he'd thought he'd never see again: his and Marie's bedroom.

The double, pine framed bed with its feather mattress still stood in the middle of the wall opposite the double sided fireplace. Like the rest of the furniture and the house itself, he had built it with his own hands to prove to Marie's father that he would be a good husband to his youngest child. It had been Marie that had made the linen sheets and heavy quilt on top of it. He walked up to it, and lightly ran his fingers over the quilt top. For the winter, they would have thrown a heavy wool blanket on top of the quilt for extra warmth, and they had been talking about getting it out when.. when Marie...

Gabriel shook his head and used his sleeve to wipe his eyes. Behind him, the first streaks of dawn began to light the sky as his senses warned him of the approaching sunrise. He closed the shutters over the window with a wave of his hand, and then he simply collapsed forward onto the bed. The supporting ropes creaked under his weight, and he kicked his boots off and crawled up so his head was resting on Marie's pillow. Even thought it had been months since they had lain together on this bed, he could still faintly smell her scent, and he closed his eyes against the fresh tears that formed and willed himself to sleep.

******

Edeline waited quietly in her sitting room at the inn as the footsteps came up the stairs to her door. Sir Pershan cracked the door open, and she saw him visibly relax as he opened it all the way and allowed his man to enter. He then shut the door behind him and locked it.

"What did you find out?" Edeline asked as the man stood at attention in front of her. They were in an inn a few hours ride from the Brotherhood's base, and one man had been sent there to scout for any traces of Gabriel. They didn't want to alert the Brotherhood that Gabriel was out and about after all. He had gone after dark, riding alone to make better time, and the dawn was approaching as he returned.

"My lady," he responded, "I watched the compound closely and looked through windows when I could, but. there had been an intruder apparently, so they were out in force looking around. Not once did I hear Lord Gabriel's name being mentioned, and no one said anything that even faintly alluded to him. I believe personally that he is not there."

Edeline nodded. "You have done well, and I thank you. Let us hope that my son is not there, hidden away from everyone else." Wolfram's warning replayed in her mind again, and she shivered. "We will remain here through the day, so we will pass the Brotherhood at night. I do not want them to see us at all if I can help it." She turned to Sir Pershan. "Did you discover where Gabriel and his wife lived?"

"I did my lady. They lived just a half a day's ride northeast of their complex. We should find it simply by following the road."

Edeline nodded again. "Good. We should arrive just before dawn if things work out well."

"Yes, my lady."

"We all should try and get some rest then." Sir Pershan said. "If we're going to be traveling at night and trying to find Lord Gabriel at dawn when he is preparing to sleep, then we will all need to be alert and well rested." He looked at Edeline for confirmation.

"Agreed," she replied as he she looked at each man in turn. One of you keep watch for three hours and rotate out." She stood up from her chair. "I am going into the other room to lie down."

"Shall I wake you for dinner, my lady?" Sir Pershan asked, and she paused and nodded.

"Let's have dinner late, if we can." she said. "We will use that time to plan what we are going to do: both to find Gabriel and if we do find him."

"Understood, my lady."

"I will see you all at dinner then." She walked into the small bedroom attached to the sitting room and closed the door behind her. She heard someone take up a watch on the other side as he climbed onto the narrow bed and laid down. She needed to sleep; she needed to be alert when she found Gabriel, but her mind refused to quiet.

Do not let them have our son.

Family: 14 -- Family: 16
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Blood Is Chapter 15

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