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Blood Is Chapter 3-1
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: Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to Part 3 of Blood Is. Please make sure your seat backs and tray tables are in their full, upright, and locked position, and keep your arms and legs inside the car at all times. Enjoy your ride.
1.
Trevor Belmont giggled to himself as he trotted down the busy hallway that led to the private wing of the house where the adults lived. He stole a quick glance over his shoulder to see John following him at a more sedate pace, and he giggled again when the man smiled at him. He turned back around...
… and collided with a pair of legs. Trevor stumbled back just as the owner of the legs came to a stop.
"Be careful, Trevor." Julia, Cousin Adelar's wife, said with an amused smile. Trevor grinned and skipped past her, and he heard her greet John as he went.
It was a quick trip to Papa's rooms from there, and the men at the door smiled at him as they let him in. John stayed outside in the hallway, and Trevor cheerfully skipped inside and went through to the bedroom. Papa slept during the day for some reason, but he always woke up when Trevor came to visit, and he was never angry about it. Sometimes the other adults in the house would get angry when bothered, but never Papa, who was always happy to see him.
Trevor went through the bedroom door, and Papa stirred, rolled over to face him, and smiled as he opened his eyes. He held one of his arms out, and Trevor smiled as he scurried over and climbed up onto the bed and snuggled in. Papa's arm came around him, and Trevor savored the feeling. He loved cuddling with his papa, who was always happy to do the same.
"It's my birthday today!" he announced.
Papa smiled at him again. "Indeed it is."
"I'm five now, Papa, and Grandpapa says we're going to have a party later."
"I know. He told me before he told you."
"You'll be there, right Papa?"
"Of course I will." Papa reached out and tapped him on the nose, which made him giggle. "I wouldn't miss it for anything."
Trevor smiled as Papa's words made him feel warm inside. "Gramma says I start lessons tomorrow." He frowned and looked at Papa in confusion. "What are lessons?"
Papa laughed. "You'll find out tomorrow, Trevor."
"But Papa, I wanna know now."
Papa only laughed again. "They're nothing bad, I promise. I had to do them; so did your grandparents."
Why was Papa laughing? Was he having a joke? Trevor frowned again. "Stop teasing me, Papa."
Papa slowly stopped laughing. "Oh child, I'm not teasing you. Lessons are where you learn things, like to read and write."
"Like you and Grandpapa can?"
"Indeed. You will learn so many things from them. They can be a little boring, but I'm sure you'll enjoy them anyway."
"Did you like them?"
"Some of them. Master Liam tried his best to make things interesting, but I much preferred my combat lessons."
"When will I get those?"
"I don't know." Papa frowned. "I'll have to talk to your grandfather about that. Now, I'm sure there are other things you'd rather be doing."
"I like being here with you."
Papa smiled again. "And I love it when you come here, but you should be out and being a boy, not lying here with me. I'll see you tonight." Papa kissed him, and Trevor made sure to rub it in before he kissed Papa on the cheek. Papa then shooed him away, and he climbed down from the bed and left the room. He would see Papa at the party later.
******
Delilah squeaked and chirped from her place on Gabriel's arm and shoulder as he walked down the hallways towards the informal parlor, where everyone was due to gather for Trevor's birthday. Already he could hear the group of heartbeats that belonged to his family ahead of him, along with numerous servants that would be serving food and drink. He could hear voices chattering away, along with laughter and the sounds of glasses clinking together. Had they started without him? The days were slowly lengthening as they moved towards summer, but they were still short enough that he was able to be up and around before everyone went to bed. He cocked his head as he walked and listened. There was Father's heartbeat, along with Mother's and Trevor's. Tobias, Kristina, their daughter Anna, and their two year old son, Mathew were gathered in one side of the room, close to Mother and Father. Peter and Sonja were nearby. To Gabriel's surprise, Cordrin and Eva were also present, as was Cousin Stefan and his wife, Dania. He had expected them to use whatever excuse possible to get out of attending, as Cordrin made no secret that he did not like Gabriel and Trevor's presence in the house. Of course, Julia and Adelar were present, simply because Julia adored Trevor and would have made Adelar make an appearance, whether he wanted to or not. Their 15 month old twin son and daughter, however, were tucked away in the nursery, asleep.
Gabriel shook his head, which caused Delilah to squeak in annoyance as his hair smacked her in the face. She had grown a bit after he had brought her home, so she was easily twice the length of his hand, not counting his claws. He reached up to pet her as he continued down the hallway, but he stopped when he heard two of the heartbeats up ahead of him suddenly accelerate. He frowned as he listened; one belonged to a servant, and the man was heading towards heart failure as fast as he heart was going. The second was Cordrin's heartbeat, but the man was in one place, and he could hear no raised voices. Why then was his uncle's heartbeat picking up? Was he anxious about something? What could he be...?
Father's heartbeat sped up.
And then the first screams fell on Gabriel's ears as he broke into a run towards the parlor.
******
Wolfram chuckled at Peter's joke as he held out his wine glass to be refilled by the hovering servant. He felt the glass being taken out of his hand, and a few seconds later, it was given back to him, though he noted that the servant's hand was shaking so heard that some of the wine slopped out. He frowned as he gripped the glass and raised it to his mouth to take a drink; the sides of it were damp, like the man's hand had been sweating heavily. Was the man ill? He took a sip of the wine and noted that it seemed slightly bitter, but he ignored it and took another drink.
He blinked in surprise as the room seemed to suddenly sway to the side, and he closed his eyes and shook his head, but that only made it worse. He felt his face flush as he took another drink of the wine. Perhaps he should make his excuses and go lie down? He wasn't young anymore, after all. No, it was Trevor's birthday, and his only grandchild would be disappointed if he left early. He took another sip of the wine to hopefully settle things down, but his heart suddenly seemed to develop the need to beat out of his chest, and the room and the people within it blurred and distorted around him.
"Wolfram?" came Edeline's voice to his left, and he turned to look at her. "Wolfram, are you all right?"
He felt his breathing begin to slow. What... What was happening?
"Wolfram!"
He couldn't respond; his thoughts scattered in multiple different directions before he could give voice to them. His eyes roved about the room, and though his vision was blurred, and everything seemed to be pitching and rolling around him, he couldn't help but see the satisfied smile on his brother's face.
He lurched to his feet, but his attempt to say Cordrin's name came out a jumbled slur. His half full wine glass slipped from his fingers and shattered on the floor, and the sound seemed louder to his ears than his thundering heartbeat as darkness crept in on the edges of his vision. Was he falling? He couldn't tell. He couldn't see the room anymore. All he could hear was his heartbeat, now slowing, slowing, slowing...
******
"Father!" Gabriel hit the doors so hard he knocked them from their hinges as his father's heart struggled to keep going. Father was lying on the floor, with Mother leaning over him, weeping. The rest of the room was standing in horrified silence as Gabriel streaked forward and found himself on the floor next to his parents.
"It's too late, Gabriel." Mother said through her tears. "There's nothing we can do."
Father's heartbeat faltered, and Gabriel felt his own heart go cold at the sound. "No!" This couldn't be happening! Three years, three years with the parents that had lost him, that had gone through Bernhard Castle alone to get him back. He couldn't lose one of them so soon!
Someone tried to tug him away from his father's side. "Gabriel," he vaguely recognized Tobias's voice, "there's nothing to be done. Trevor needs you now."
Gabriel shoved Tobias away, and he paid no attention to the sound of the man slamming into the wall behind them. "No! I won't let this happen!" His blood, yes his blood could help! Without thought or hesitation, he bit deeply into the flesh of his right wrist and held the bleeding wound over Father's open mouth. Deep red fluid streamed from the bite and splashed against Father's lips and chin, though most made it into his mouth. "Live! Don't leave me!"
Father's eyes were wide and the faded brown of the iris was barely visible as a sliver of color around the expanding pupil. His chest was barely moving, and Gabriel kept himself focused on that failing heartbeat, willing it to keep going, to not slow any further, but even as his blood continued to flow, that beat continued to slow. It faltered, slowed, faltered, picked back up for a few beats, faltered, and then stopped. Gabriel waited and silently begged for it to start up again, as his had done after drinking Laura's blood, and he strained his ears, listening for any sound, but there was nothing. Father was still and silent, and Gabriel shook his head in denial as his eyes began to blur and something wet ran down his cheek.
"Father?" he whispered. "Father, please."
Nothing. Nothing, but Mother weeping next to him.
"Murderer!" spat a voice from behind, and Gabriel turned his head to see his uncle glaring down at him.
"What?" he said in confusion. He had tried to save Father, not kill him.
"Your father risking everything to bring you home wasn't enough for you, was it?' Cordrin snarled as Gabriel slowly stood up to face him. "You wanted more! You wanted what you couldn't have with him in the way! So you poisoned him with your foul blood to get rid of him!"
"What? No! I was trying -"
"Don't try to deny it, vampire! We all know what dwells within your blackened heart! You murdered your own father so you can claim his power for yourself! You and your spawn!"
"I didn't! I wouldn't!" Gabriel couldn't believe what he was hearing. Why was no one standing up for him? He hadn't killed Father while attempting to save him, had he?
Cordrin spat in his face, and Gabriel flinched back away from his uncle. "My brother is dead! Because of you!"
Gabriel looked away from his uncle, and his eyes sought out the rest of the family, his cousins, his mother. Mother was still on the floor, lying over his husband's body, still crying. Everyone else was staring at Father in silence, and then slowly, their shocked eyes rose up to look at him. No one said anything, and Gabriel flinched again from their stares.
Behind him came the sound of a blade being drawn. "Now," came Cordrin's voice, "it's time to do what your father wasn't man enough to do when he found you in that castle."
Out of the crowd, Gabriel found Trevor's tear damp and terrified face, and he reacted without thinking. "No!" He streaked forward, knocking people out of his way without care, scooped Trevor up into his arms, and ran out of the room. Delilah managed to latch onto his sleeve as he went.
"Stop him!" came the order from behind, and Gabriel didn't slow his stride as the sounds of multiple pairs of feet came after him. His vampiric speed lent itself well, and he was a blur as he ran down the hallways towards the main entrance. The last vestiges of sunlight faded from the sky as Gabriel once again fled from a place he had called home.
******
Cordrin fought to keep the smile from his face as his nephew fled the room, taking Trevor with him. Hr ordered the guards after them, though he knew it would be possible to catch the fleeing vampire. It would however, chase him out of the house. He looked across the room, silent save for his sister-in-law's pathetic weeping, and met his son's gaze. As always, the spineless boy wilted under the look and moved towards his aunt.
"Aunt," Adelar said in a soft tone that made Cordrin grit his teeth. When would that useless child quit being so soft? "Aunt, he's gone. Let go so he can be taken care of." Kristina and Sonja stepped forward, and the two of them pulled Edeline off her husband's bloodied corpse and led her out of the room. A quick word from Adelar saw the servants shake themselves out of their shock and scurry around to do as they had been told. Wolfram was carried out of the room on a litter, and Cordrin felt his lips twitch at the sight.
"Now then," he said as Adelar turned to face him, "that vampire is out of our hair. What are you going to do about it?"
Adelar looked at him stupidly. "What?"
"You're Lord Cronqvist now, boy!" he snarled. "And that vampire just murdered your uncle! What are you going to do about it?"
"That's rubbish, and you know it!" came his daughter-in-law's strident voice, and Cordrin ground his teeth again as he turned to her. She was glaring at him with her brown eyes flashing. "Gabriel would never do such a thing!" He leveled a glare at her, but unlike her spineless husband, she had never been cowed by him, something that he would have to take care of in the near future. He couldn't have his son listening to anyone but him. "He was trying to save him, not kill him!"
Cordrin flicked his eyes over to his son, and the boy crumbled and began to lead his wife out of the room.
"It's not right, Adelar!" she continued as they moved down the corridor, and Cordrin made a mental note to have her taken care of sooner rather than later. It would look suspicious with two deaths so close together, but he finally had Adelar where he wanted him; he would be damned in she interfered with that. Once their voices had faded, Cordrin strode out of the room. He had a letter to write, and after that, he needed to ensure that no one else would be able to interfere.
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