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Blood Is Chapter 2-5
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: So the delay on this chapter was caused by Kingdom Hearts dragging itself forward, kicking Castlevania out of the front line, and grabbing my attention for a while. Castlevania of course wasn't going to stand for that, and after an truly epic brawl and a six week long delay, Castlevania clawed itself to victory, bringing this chapter with it. XD
5.
Gabriel didn't bother rising from bed come morning. What was the point? He was just a vampire trying to pass for human when everyone around him knew the truth. Why should he waste the energy to drag himself out of bed, dress himself, and endure his uncle's hatred at the breakfast table when his body was demanding that he stay in bed during the day?
Of course, his parents came around once it was clear that he wasn't getting up, and he found himself torn over that. On one hand, he was pleased to have parents that truly acted as though they cared. On the other, he wasn't a child to be minded, so what if he wanted to stay in bed all damned day?
"I'm just tired." he told them as he pulled the quilt over his head. "Please leave me alone."
"Are you sure you're all right, Gabriel?" Mother asked gently. "Does this have anything to do with what happened last night?"
"I'm fine. Just leave me in peace."
A hand came down and gently squeezed his blanket covered shoulder. "If you need us, Gabriel," Father said, "call for us. We'll come, no matter what."
"I'll be all right." Just leave already!
The hand on his shoulder let go then, and Gabriel repressed a sigh of relief as their footsteps walked across the floor and out the door. Finally alone in the quiet, he closed his eyes and went back to sleep.
******
He was walking through a clearing. The tall grass whispered and swayed as he passed through it, and the moon shone down from above, bathing the area a soft silvery glow. In the distance, a church bell tolled, and his feet turned in that direction without any command from him. A breeze ruffled his hair and sent the grass and the leaves of the surrounding trees rustling. His hands lightly brushed over the tips of the grass as he went, and he smiled faintly when they tickled his palms.
Ahead of him a small white church appeared, and it seemed to glow under the light of the moon. His heart clenched when he realized that he was walking straight towards it, because he recognized it. It was the church that Marie, her parents, and her siblings had attended. It was the church where they had had her funeral service, and the small graveyard aside it is where they had laid her down in the ground.
He wanted to turn away as his feet veered of to the left and walked through the small wrought iron gate that surrounded the church yard, but his body seemed to have a will of its own. He couldn't even shut his eyes as the he walked the familiar path to a certain spot in the very back. A simple gray stone cross sat at the head of the grave, marking the place where his wife's body lay mingling with the soil, with its simple inscription.
Marie Belmont
Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.
Gabriel shook his head in denial. Marie's mother had picked out the Bible verse, Mathew 5:8 if he remembered correctly, and at the time he had thought it fitting. Now...
"What was I fighting for?" he whispered. "Why did I have to be the one to make the sacrifice?"
"Because you were the only one who could have done what needed to be done." said a male voice behind him, one that sounded very familiar, though he couldn't place it.
He didn't bother to turn and look at the owner of the voice. "It's not fair."
"No, it wasn't fair, and He realized that He had asked too much of you, so He ensured you would be giving what you needed to heal before asking for more."
"What if I do not wish to give anything else?"
"Then you do not have to. You have your Free Will, Gabriel."
"Do I really? Or is that just another step in His grand plan for me? Is the choice truly mine?"
"You can choose to step away. No one will force you to do otherwise."
"Like I could have stepped away from my task last fall with the carrot dangling in front of me?"
"That was Zobek's doing, not His, Gabriel." He could hear a gentle rebuke in the voice, and he winced.
"Is He as angry with me, as I am with Him? I was chosen to do His work, and yet look at what has become of me."
"He is not angry; He understands that you only did what you had to do."
"I am a murderer, speaker, a murderer and a vampire. Is this God's reward for the foolish?" A knocking sound came from the wall of the church, and he turned his head that way to look, but he saw nothing.
"You are no fool, Gabriel. You curse it now, but your current state will be of use to you in the future."
"So I am to face my tasks, whether I like it or not then."
"You can walk away, but the question you should ask yourself is whether they will let you?"
"So I really do not have any choice."
"You have enemies, Gabriel, and while you may not want to bother with them, the reverse cannot be said to be true."
The knocking came again, and Gabriel heaved a sigh. He finally turned to face the voice "I just want to -"
There was no one there.
The knocking came a third time, and he blinked and -
- sat up in bed. He rubbed at his eyes as someone, likely one of the guards, knocked on the door again.
"Lord Gabriel?"
A quick check with his senses told him that the sun had been down for a few hours already, and a quick glance out of the nearest window confirmed it. He rubbed his eyes again.
"Just a moment." He threw the quilt back and swung his legs out of bed, and he broke out in shivers when his bare feet touched the floor. Rubbing at his arms, he walked to the bedroom door and opened it up to not only see the guard that had been knocking, but Miss Sophia and Trevor as well. Trevor was dressed for bed, but his eyes were wide, and the faint, fading scent of fear clung to him as he darted forward and wound himself around one of Gabriel's legs.
"I apologize for disturbing you, Lord Gabriel." Miss Sophia said quietly. "But Trevor had a nightmare and refused to go to back to sleep without seeing you first."
"Scary, Papa!" Trevor exclaimed, and Gabriel sighed as he reached down and picked the boy up.
"I'll take him from here." he said as Trevor's little arms came around his neck.
"Are you sure, Lord Gabriel?"
He rolled his eyes. "Yes, I am sure, so you may go."
The woman gave a short bow of respect, and then she walked off as the guard that had escorted them there took up position by the door with the other two. Gabriel shut the bedroom door and carried Trevor over to the bed. He sat him down on the mattress - "Stay here, Trevor." and moved over to the fireplace.
It didn't take him long to build the fire back up, and once it was burning merrily, he returned to the bed, and Trevor reached up to him.
"What did you dream about, Trevor?" Gabriel asked as he moved the now sleepy eyed child to the middle of the bed.
"Scary thing, Papa."
"I'm sure." He sat down beside him as the warmth from the fire filled the room. Trevor crawled up onto his lap, and he put his arms around his son and rocked him a little. "But there are no scary things in here." Aside from me. he thought. Trevor nestled into his arms and yawned, and Gabriel smiled faintly. "Let's go back to bed."
Trevor wiggled out of his arms and crawled back to the middle of the bed, where he laid down with his head on the pillows. He gave Gabriel a sleepy smile.
"Night night, Papa."
Gabriel moved to lie down beside him and pulled the quilt over them as Trevor curled up against him. The warmth of the boy's body seeped into his own cold skin, and Gabriel closed his eyes as his heart ached. His son was warm, bright, beautiful, and so, so alive, while he... he was cold, dark, grotesque, and hovering in the space between life and death. What right did he have, he wondered, as Trevor's breathing slowed as the child fell asleep, to have this beautiful, perfect little person lying here beside him?
Every right, Gabriel.
Gabriel blinked in confusion. Had he really heard that? He raised his head and looked around, but there was no one in the room aside from him and his small son. There were no other heartbeats, no other scents aside from their own. He laid his head back down and stared in silence at the opposite wall for a second, before he decided it had been a lingering side effect of the dream he had had. With that settled, he wound one of his arms over Trevor and closed his eyes.
"Goodnight, son."
******
A soft giggling fell upon his ears, followed by the feel of something tickling his nose. Gabriel drowsily reached up to brush it away, and the tickling stopped, while the giggling became louder. He dropped his hand, and the tickling returned. He grumbled in annoyance and cracked one eye open to see Trevor's smiling face, using Gabriel's own hair to tickle his nose.
"And what do you think you're doing, little man?" he asked as he reached out with his senses to get the time. It was just about mid morning, and he could hear that most of the household was gathering in the hall for breakfast.
"I hungy, Papa." Trevor said.
"Oh, you are?" Trevor's stomach growled. "I guess so." He sat up. "Let me get dressed, and we'll go find some breakfast." Trevor grinned happily and nodded as Gabriel heaved himself out of bed and went in search of clothing. His parents had servants who laid out their clothes and helped them dress, but he had refused to have one for the same purpose. He'd been dressing himself since he was a boy; he didn't need any help. His long claws made things a bit more difficult, but he soon had himself fully dressed for the day, and he scooped Trevor up as the boy reached up to him.
Gabriel paid scant attention to the three guards that fell into step behind him as he carried Trevor out into the hallway and turned in the direction of the nursery. Trevor snuggled in as they went, which caused a tiny smile to appear on his father's face. They reached the nursery quickly, and Trevor was quickly whisked away to be dressed.
"Gabriel!" came a cheerful voice from the side, and Gabriel turned towards it to see Anna waving at him happily from the table. "Come eat with me!"
He smiled again; why not, and Anna smiled widely herself when he walked over and sat down. In short order a dressed Trevor was plopped down next to him, and the meal was served. Trevor chattered away to Anna, and she responded easily to everything he said. Apparently she was far better at understanding him than the adults were.
Breakfast passed pleasantly, and as it was ending, one of Gabriel's guards stepped into the room and whispered in his ear:
"Lord Cronqvist wants to see you in his study after the meal."
Gabriel sighed and nodded in understanding.
******
A half hour later found him walking towards his father's study, with his guards following silently behind him. Anna had had her daily lessons with her mother, so she had left just before him, and he had spent a few minutes getting Trevor interested in his toys before he'd forced himself to quit stalling and go. No doubt his parents wanted to talk about what had happened the other night, something he had no interest in speaking of.
He reached the closed study door and just stared at it for a second, unable to make himself knock. He didn't want to knock, he didn't want to go in, he wanted to go back to his room, crawl back into bed, and shut out the world for as long as possible, but he knew if he did that, then they would come looking for him like they had the previous morning. And this time, telling them that he was tired probably wouldn't work.
Seeing no help for it, he raised his fist and knocked lightly on the wood, and his father's voice called out for him to come in. The guards stayed outside the door and closed it behind him when he walked in.
He wasn't surprised to see not only his father, but his mother as well, in the room when he walked in, and his father smiled faintly and waved him over to the seating area in front of the fireplace.
Gabriel sighed as he unceremoniously flopped down onto the small couch beside his mother, and he leaned back and closed his eyes.
"Gabriel?" Mother asked. "Are you all right?"
"I am fine."
"You don't look or sound fine." Father replied.
"I have things on my mind."
"Is there anything we can do to help?"
"Can you cure vampirism?" Silence. "Then no, there is nothing you can do to help. Is that all you wanted to see me about?"
"Gabriel.. are you sure that you're all right?" Mother asked, and he felt her hand come down to rest on his arm.
"I. Am. Fine. Now is that all you wanted to see me about?"
Father sighed. "Yes, Gabriel."
Gabriel didn't say another world or even look at them. He simply stood up and walked out of the room.
******
As much as he wanted to, he did not return to his rooms and crawl back into bed, because he knew that they would come looking for him there. Instead he moved fast enough to drop his guards and hid himself in the cool darkness of one of the many storage rooms that dotted the house. It was easy for him to climb over and around the crates, barrels and boxes that littered the floor and curl up in a dark corner. It wasn't a perfect solution, but...
Gabriel frowned in thought. Maybe... maybe there was another way to keep from being seen. He'd done it once before, hadn't he? He closed his eyes and thought about his desire to not be found, to remain hidden in the shadows, out of sight, and after a moment, he became aware of the bizarre sensation of his body shrinking and changing shape. It lasted only a second or two before it stopped, and when he opened his eyes, he found that he was small, tiny, and surrounded by massive barrels and crates. He twitched his whiskers in satisfaction and scurried into a gap between two crates to hide.
******
He remained huddled in his little hole as the sun tracked its way across the sky. It was easy with his teeth and claws to find stray bits of string and tiny scraps of fabric that were lying about and make himself a soft bed to lie on while he waited, and he even managed a few hours of rest as the household frantically searched for him. A few servants came into the room where he was hiding, but they had no chance of seeing him, and they eventually left and reported that he was not in there.
"Where could he have gone, Wolfram?" he heard his mother say at one point, and he felt a twinge of guilt at the tears in her voice. "Did he run away again?"
No, he hadn't run away. He just needed to be along for a while, to think...
To mope.
...to figure out what to do next...
To hide.
…to decide how he was going to move forward from here.
If you're going to do that, why don't you just go back to Bernhard Castle then? Isn't that why you took refuge in there to begin with?
No, no, he wasn't going to do that. He was at home, with his family -
The family you are currently hiding from.
- so there was no need to leave.
He curled up in his little nest, covered his face with his tiny paws, and went back to sleep.
******
"Papa!"
Gabriel let out a surprised squeak as Trevor's voice echoed loudly in his ears, and he jumped to his feet and blinked his beady eyes at the gap between the crates, where Trevor's face could be seen looking at him.
"I see Papa!" A large – well large in comparison to him – hand reached into the gap, and Gabriel scrambled back to get away from it, but there was no space left to go. He squeaked again in protest when his son's fingers closed around him and dragged him out of his hiding place, using a grip that would have likely killed him if he had been a regular rat.
"Got you, Papa!" Trevor squealed as Gabriel struggled in his grip, squeaking in pain, and he fought down the instinctive urge to bite as Trevor stood up and toddled out of the room. At least, he thought as his small body shrieked in protest at the squeeze he was under, the sun was down, so there was no chance of him bursting into flames on top of the wrenched joints and stretched muscles that his son's hand inflicted on him.
"Trevor?" came Miss Sophia's voice, and Gabriel shuddered; she was not going to react well to seeing a large rat in her charge's hand, not well at all. "Trevor, where did you get off to, young man?"
Trevor giggled as Gabriel increased his struggling, hoping to get out of the child's hand so he could scurry off before the nurse tossed him to the floor and stomped on him or something similar, but the boy only squeezed harder. Gabriel couldn't stop the pained "Eeeeee!" he made as he felt his bones creaking under the pressure, and he wondered if his own son was going to crush him to death.
"Trevor, where are you?"
"Miss Sophia?" came Father's voice, and if he could have, Gabriel would have sobbed in relief. Sweet rescue!
"I apologize, Lord Cronqvist. Did I disturb you?"
"Is everything all right? I heard you calling for Trevor; did he slip out?"
"He did – somehow. None of us saw him leave, so we don't know how he did it."
Trevor giggled again, and he ran up to his grandfather, to his father's relief.
"Found Papa!" he said proudly, and Gabriel felt himself being held up as dizziness began to overtake him. Miss Sophia shrieked.
"A rat! Where did you come by a rat, child! Put it down this instant!" Gabriel squealed as Trevor's fingers were pried away from him, and he was dropped to the floor, but before he could scurry away on limbs that screamed in protest with every beat of his heart, he felt himself being picked up again, this time by a larger hand with a far more gentle grip. His father's hand, his nose and eyes were quick to tell him. He let out a tiny sigh as his body quickly healed the damage from Trevor's tight grip, and his father's other hand came down on top of him to keep him from escaping.
"I will deal with the rat, Miss Sophia. Just take Trevor back to the nursery; he should have been asleep hours ago."
"Understood, my lord. Come along, Trevor."
Gabriel heard their footsteps walking away, and once they had turned the corner on their way back to the nursery, he felt Father turn and walk into a nearby room. "We need to talk, Gabriel." A door closed behind them, and Gabriel shivered at the sound as Father sat down somewhere.
"Gabriel," Father said firmly, and there was just a hint of anger under the words, "I am going to let you go, and when I do, you are to change back without running off, so that I may speak to you. Do you understand me?"
The hand over him lifted a little, so Father could see him. "Do you understand me, Gabriel?"
Gabriel looked at the older man's face for a long moment, and then he let out a rat sized sigh and nodded. The hands then carefully set him down on a couch cushion and backed away. Gabriel turned around to look up at his father, and with another tiny sigh, he closed his eyes and willed himself back to normal.
Father, to his credit, didn't blink or even widen his eyes at the transformation. Instead he only gave Gabriel a look that demanded obedience and asked:
"Why did you hide from us, Gabriel?" Gabriel only looked away without answering. "Answer me, Gabriel. Your mother and I were worried sick while you were huddled in a little hidey hole. The servants tore the house apart looking for you; we all thought you had run away again. What were you thinking?"
"I was thinking that I wanted some time alone to think!" Gabriel snarled. "With you or anyone else pestering me about if I was feeling all right or not!"
"If you wanted time alone, Gabriel, all you had to do was tell me."
"I did, if you remember, and you summoned me to your study this morning."
"I thought that an entire day would be enough."
"Yes," Gabriel snarked, "one day is more than enough time to sort out everything I have working against me right now."
"Why didn't you come to me, son? Why hide from everyone that wants to help?"
"You cannot help me, not unless you know a way to miraculously make me human again."
"Is that what this is all about? Your vampirism?"
"My vampirism, the uncle that wants me dead, the death of my wife at my own hands, the betrayal of the people that I thought I could trust, the God that ruined everything! Need I go on!" He abruptly stood up. "Just leave me alone! I don't need your help!"
"Gabriel -"
"Leave me alone!" he howled, and then he bolted from the room.
"Gabriel, wait!" Father called, but Gabriel was gone before the man could say anything else. He streaked down the darkened hallways, running blindly like he had two nights before, not caring at all where he ended up. He just ran, and somehow, once again, his feet carried him to the chapel, where Father Caleb was standing at the holy table.
"Lord Gabriel!" the man said in surprise. "What is it? Why are you running?"
"I need to hide." Gabriel gasped. "I just need a place to be alone for a while. I just need to think but they won't leave me alone!"
The priest looked at him for a second, and then he nodded. "Come with me." He then turned and walked away from the holy table, and Gabriel followed him. He expected to be led to the priest's private quarters again, so he was surprised when he was led out of the chapel area entirely and into the house itself. He followed the priest down the halls, up some stairs, and into the house's massive attic.
"Part of the space is used for servants' quarters," Father Caleb explained, "but a large part of it is for storage. When I was brought to live here, I used to hide up here to get away from everyone, and I found a perfect hiding spot, which is right over here." He led Gabriel to a spot under the eaves, where vertical beams connected with the sloping rafters near the edge of the attic. At some point, someone had walled off the small space, leaving a tiny room just big enough for one person to lie down in. The priest pulled a panel away from the beams, which created an opening into the space. "It was perfect for a child to hide, but it'll be a little small for a grown man, but if you want to hide, this is the place to do it. No one ever found me up here."
Gabriel looked at the small opening, just big enough for him to shimmy through, and then he looked up at the priest. "Why did you hide?"
Father Caleb looked down at the hiding place. "You're not the only one that's hated by Cordrin Cronqvist." he said without looking away from it. He then looked up at Gabriel. "If you truly want to avoid everyone, I won't tell anyone you're up here, not even your father if he asks."
"Won't you get into trouble for lying to him?"
"Who says I intend to lie?" The priest smirked, and for a second the resemblance to Cordrin was startling, and Gabriel wondered for a moment just why his uncle hated Caleb. Then he shook his head, dropped down to his knees, and crawled through the narrow opening in the wall.
On the other side was a space that would have been large enough for a child to stretch out and have plenty of room left over. For Gabriel's taller frame, he had just enough room to lie down and nothing more. Caleb replaced the panel behind him and pushed a crate in front of it, and Gabriel heard his footsteps receding as he managed to lay out on the floor. Just above him was the sloping beams of the roof, so not even a child would have had room to sit up straight. Well, if the space became too tight for him, he could always change back into a rat. The floor was covered by an old, tattered blanket, so he would have something soft to curl up in if it came to that. In the corner, where the rafters met the floor, were a few old toys, and Gabriel blinked in sudden surprise.
He could see.
There was no light coming in from anywhere, yet he could still see the blanket under him, the toys in the corner, and the beams above him. The colors were washed out, leaving everything in shades of gray, but it more than he should have been able to see. He should have been completely blind in the complete darkness...
Night vision, he realized. Why had he not noticed this before? He'd been in the dark before, hadn't he?
No, he realized as he thought about it, he hadn't. He'd always had some kind of light since his turning, be it from the stars, candles, or lamps, and during his flight from the house to his old home a few weeks ago, he hadn't paid attention to how well he'd been able to see after dark. The light of stars and moon had allowed him to see color and details, though they had been darker than normal.
Well, he decided, as he laid his head down on his arm, it wasn't important, as fascinating as it was. He had far more serious things to deal with. He closed his eyes, shut out the sounds of the servants searching for him, and willed himself to sleep.
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Oh btw, "Gone Away" is a song that you might want to look up. It also fits Gabriel rather well.
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I'm not really massively keen on The Offspring. I agree, the song fits Gabe, but I'm just not a fan of the vocalist's voice, can't really pin down why. I recently finally started gettin into X Japan, thanks to a friend posting a video of Art of Life, which I think definitely fits Gabe, as does Rusty Nail, I think. I've also been really digging the soundtrack preview tunes for Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night. Woohooo! for Michiru Yamane being back with Iga, along with Ippo Yamada (also on the music). The music teaseso far is amazing. I'd be shocked if you've not heard about Bloodstained: RotN.