AMoS Part 2-4

[eiahmon]

Title: A Moment of Stupidity Part 2: 1,094 - 1,120 Chapter 4
Category: Castlevania
Rating: R for language, and mentions of RAPE and M/M SLASH. Don’t like, then don’t read.
Submitted on:
Disclaimer: Castlevania and its characters and situations are the sole property of Konami. I am making no money or profit off of this fanfiction and no copyright infringement is intended.
Summary: AU. What if Joachim Armster had lived through his fight with Leon Belmont? What might have been different? Well hang on, because Joachim is going to tell you all about it. From his kidnapping and forced turning to his rescue from the ruins of Walter’s castle, and from Trevor's birth and to Richter's death of old age, he tells all - and blames it all on Leon while he's at it.
Section Summary: Part 2 covers the twenty six years between Lament of Innocence and Leon’s death.
SPOILER WARNING!!! Spoilers for many of the Castlevania games!!
WARNING!! This fic my offend the religious! Read at your own risk!

4.
Encounters

I was awoken the next morning by Kerwin gently shaking me and calling my name.

"It's time to wake up, Joachim." he said "Belmont will be here within a few hours."

I grumbled something unintelligible and tried to sink further down under the blankets. I heard Kerwin chuckle, and he pulled my blankets away and scooped me up into his arms. The shock of the cold air in the room - it was rapidly moving towards winter in the area, something that I was not looking forward to - woke me up quickly, and I mustered the energy to glare at Kerwin. He simply smiled at me and sat me down on his lap and undressed me. He bathed me - an actual bath this time - before dressing me in a clean gown and feeding me. I was then put back in bed and propped up on pillows like usual. Kerwin read aloud out of a book to me until a servant appeared and announced that: “Lord Belmont has arrived, my lord.” Kerwin put the book aside, assured me that he would be right back, and left the room.

A few minutes later, I heard murmuring voices approaching my door, and I recognized them as belonging to Kerwin and Leon. I heard Kerwin telling Leon that I was still ill and still tired easily, and the visit would be over immediately if I showed any sign of tiring. Leon said that he understood, and shortly afterward, he walked through the door, while Kerwin’s footsteps walked away. I felt a spike of fear - was he leaving us alone so Leon could do whatever he wished to me? - but that was soothed by a mental caress of sorts from Kerwin. Even though he would not physically be in the room with me, he would still be watching.

Leon seated himself in the chair that Kerwin normally occupied, and he spent a brief moment just looking me over. I resisted the urge to squirm under his gaze, and he met my eyes and smiled at me. He looked different from the last time I had seen him. He was wearing finely made clothing more befitting of a nobleman, and he carried himself differently, like he knew of his path and was determined to follow it. His eyes were also different. During the battle with him I had seen them filled with the determination that I just mentioned, but it was touched by innocence and naiveté. After my rescue I had been too ill to pay attention to his eyes. Now the innocence and naiveté were gone, burned away by whatever he had experienced since our fight. I also saw brief flickers of guilt, and I wondered what had happened to him. He slowly - so not to startle me, I suppose - reached out and touched my hand.

“You’re not shivering nor are you bleeding, and you‘re not hot to the touch anymore.” he said, and he smiled again. “I‘m glad to see you looking so much better.” I smiled weakly at him, but said nothing. Despite Kerwin’s assurances, I was still fearful of his intentions. If he saw my wariness, he said nothing of it. Instead he launched into a one sided conversation about this and that, and he brought up everything but what I wanted to know but was too afraid to ask.

I started to tire about a half hour into his visit, and he noticed right away. To my surprise he helped my lie down and tucked the blankets around me before telling me goodbye and leaving the room. A few minutes, Kerwin appeared to check on me, and he too murmured surprise that Leon had assisted me. I barely heard him since, relieved greatly by the fact that he had made no move to harm me, I was quickly falling asleep.

I woke up in the evening and was surprised to see Matatias curled up close to me. He wasn't asleep, as he looked up at me when I stirred.

"Are you awake, Uncle Joachim?" he asked hopefully.

"Yes child." I said sleepily "What are you doing here?"

"I'm hiding from Celia. Daddy won't let her come in here unless he's here, so..." His face brightened. "Besides, I wanted to visit you." I smiled tiredly at him and ruffled his hair affectionately, which made him giggle. I lightly stroked his face and felt the short stubble on his cheeks and chin; he needed for someone to give him a shave. It struck me then that, even though Matatias was a child mentally and forever would be, he was a grown man physically.

It made me wonder for a moment how Kerwin had explained puberty to him. The thought struck me funny, and I started to laugh. Matatias looked at me in confusion, before he apparently decided that he might as well join in.

"Matatias!" Celia's yell rang down the hall and through the open door, and I heard her heartbeat and her footfalls as she came down the hall towards my room. Matatias vanished under the bed so quickly that he had to have used translocation. Just then Celia appeared in the doorway but made no attempt to cross the threshold.

"Where is he?" she demanded shrilly "Kerwin will kill me if I don't have that brat sit for his lessons." I winced at her tone and realized that she didn't give Kerwin any kind of respectful title, as the rules dictated. I didn't either, but I had permission to call him by his name, whereas I'm sure she didn't.

"I don't know." I said "Go away; you're hurting my ears." I thought about calling for Kerwin, but I had a feeling that he would make Matatias go with Celia, and I didn't want Matatias to leave just yet. I had been enjoying his company.

She ignored me. "Matatias Bernhard! If you're in here, you had better come out right now, or you won't be able to sit down for the rest of the night!" I heard Matatias's heartbeat accelerate at the threat of a spanking, and it occurred to me then that, if I could hear his heartbeat, then Celia definitely could.

She was toying with him.

The realization filled me with anger - Walter had toyed with me off and on, threatening punishment if I did as I was told only to punish me anyway once I had done so - and I felt a brush against my mind from Kerwin, who had felt it. I ignored his query.

“Please leave.” I said as I nestled into my pillows, wishing I could hold one over my ears to block out her voice.

“Matatias, I know you’re in here!” She looked around the room for a bit, before her eyes fell on me. They lit up, and she smiled before she stepped into the room and walked over to me. Matatias’s heart accelerated even further, but he didn’t stir from his place under the bed.

“What are you doing?” I demanded with a little fear as she pulled my blankets back and pulled me up out of bed. She sat down on the mattress and laid me across her lap on my stomach. “Stop, what are you doing!” I was frightened, and this time Kerwin didn’t mentally ask me what was wrong. I sensed him leaving his study and moving quickly towards my room.

“Matatias!” Celia called “If you don’t come out, Joachim takes your spanking for you!” I gasped in horror. I’d taken spankings as a child, but Walter had never done that. He preferred to whip me with a switch or strap across my back and legs, and even then he did that only rarely. With a vampire’s strength, I knew that it would likely hurt more than anything I had received as a child, but I was more worried about the humiliation of it more than anything. Especially when one considered that, while being moved didn’t hurt so much anymore, I knew being spanked would hurt my entire body, and I likely would be unable to keep from crying.

I was such a crybaby then.

I tried to squirm away from her, but he held me down with one hand on my back. I heard Matatias shifting under the bed, but before he could come out, Celia suddenly swatted hard me on the ass. I yelped in pain and surprise, and she swatted me a second time just as Kerwin came through the door.

“Kerwin!” I reached out to him, desperate to get away from her before she could hit me a third time. He took in the scene for a split second before his eyes flared in rage, and he strode towards the bed and yanked me off of Celia’s lap. I wrapped my arms around his neck and hid my face in his hair, and I actually heard him growl at Celia. He was furious, and I shivered, frightened by it even as I knew that it was not directed at me.

“Matatias, come out from under that bed right now.” he said sternly. I heard Matatias come out and stand up. “Go to your room, Matatias.”

“Kerwin,” I said quietly “don’t be angry at Matatias. He was just visiting me.”

“Hush, Joachim.” His arms tightened around me in a brief hug. I heard Matatias walk past us and out the door, and Kerwin growled again.

“Celia,” he said with barely restrained rage “you are to go to your rooms and stay there. Once Joachim is back in bed and settled, I will deal with you.”

“I didn’t hit him that hard! I was just trying to make that brat -!”

“GO!” The windows rattled with his anger, and I heard Celia jump up from the bed and run out of the room. Once she had gone, Kerwin walked back towards my bed and gently laid me down.

“Did she hurt you?” he asked softly as he brushed my hair back and tucked me in. His rust brown eyes were filled with concern, and if I hadn’t felt and heard his rage, I wouldn’t have never believed that it had ever been there.

I shook my head. Those two swats had stung badly, but I already couldn’t feel them, though I could feel my cheeks burning with embarrassment.

Kerwin leaned down and kissed me on the forehead. “I want you to go to sleep now, Joachim, I don’t want you to hear what’s going to happen next.”

“You’re not going to punish, Matatias are you?”

“No, I’m not. Now I want you to close your eyes and sleep.” He then willed me to sleep.
I was woken what was likely only a few minutes later by a scream. I came awake instantly and looked around for the source just as I heard a second scream, and I recognized the voice as Celia’s. The scream was muffled, but I could hear it plainly, and I’m sure the entire household could hear it. A second later I heard a sound I knew very well; the snapping of a either a strap or a whip, and Celia screamed again. I winced and nestled down into my pillows, grateful that for once it wasn’t me being beaten, even as I shuddered at the awful sound.

“You are not to touch him!” Kerwin bellowed angrily, sounding eerily like his father “You are to stay out of his room and never speak to him! You know this! Yet you went in there! You touched him! You struck him!” I shuddered again. The sentence “You touched him.” sounded like something Walter would say when he was in one of his jealous piques. The strap or whip snapped again, and Celia screamed a third time. I squeezed my eyes shut and covered my ears with my hands.

I don’t know how long Kerwin beat Celia; I lost track of how many times I heard the snap or heard her scream. By the time he stopped, I was huddled in a ball under my blankets, shaking at the memories the sounds, especially her screams, had invoked. For a few moments I thought I heard my own voice screaming in agony instead of hers as Walter beat me for whatever imagined infraction I had supposedly done. When her screams finally stopped, I wondered if it was because Kerwin had stopped the beating or because she was unconscious.

A few minutes later Kerwin stepped into my room and sank down into the chair next to my bed.

"When will she ever learn?" I heard him mumble to himself. I didn't say anything, and he looked over at me.

"Are you alright?" he asked. I nodded, but my shaking showed otherwise. He pulled my blankets away and gathered me into his arms. "Joachim, what's wrong?"

I shuddered and hid my face in his hair, which was down. "You sounded like him."

"Him? Who -? Oh, I understand. Did I frighten you?" When I nodded, he squeezed me lightly and began to rock me gently. "I'm sorry, child. I didn't mean for you to hear that."

"Who is she?" I asked after a few minutes.

"Celia?" Kerwin laid me back in bed and tucked me in. "She was Corvanus' child originally, and she was one of Matatias's nurses there. I claimed her after he died, since I knew that I would need another vampire to help Matatias's human nurse if he ever got out of control."

I nodded; that made sense. A human would have no chance of controlling Matatias if he ever brought his vampiric strength to bear. "She's not happy about the arrangement then?"

Kerwin shook his head. "No, not at all. She wanted to be free, but I had her subdued and restrained within a few seconds, so she was not strong enough to be out on her own. She'd been turned only a few years previous, so even now, she is not strong enough. But she insists that she is, and she is angry that I will not let her go, so this is how she makes her displeasure know, by causing as much trouble for me as she can."

"If she is so much trouble, why do you keep her around. I don't think Matatias likes her."

"You're right, he doesn't, but finding another vampire to help care for him would be difficult and turning one would not be practical since he is active during the day.” He gave me a suggestive grin. “Besides, she’s wonderful in bed.”

I shuddered again; that sounded like something Walter would have said.

Kerwin reached out and brushed my hair from my face. “I know what you’re thinking, Joachim, and let me say that she is willing in that regard.” He snorted. “At times, she’s seemingly insatiable. She’s treated well, and I allow her to hunt whenever she feels the need as long as she’s careful. I do not treat her like Walter treated you, Joachim.”

He stood up and leaned over me and kissed me on the forehead. “It’s late now, and you need to sleep. I’ll be back in to feed you later, after I hunt.” I nodded in understanding, glad that the previous conversation was done with. Kerwin could be eerily like his father when he wanted to, and though I liked to think that he could never be that cruel, I was still frightened of the possibility.

Kerwin quietly left the room, and I nestled down to sleep, watching the comforting light of the flames in the fireplace as I fell dropped off.

******

The next morning, I woke up shivering hard under my blankets. I poked my head out and saw that the fire had gone out and that it appeared to be sleeting outside. I reluctantly reached an arm out from under my warm blankets and pulled the bell pull beside the bed to summon a servant.

A few minutes passed, no servant appeared. I pulled the rope again, and after a few more minutes of waiting an older man, looking sullen and irritated, stepped through the door.

“Please relight the fire.” I said, as I curled up to try and get warm. The servant crossed his arms and glared at me.

“No,” he said firmly “I don’t take orders from demons.”

I looked at him in surprise for a moment. “I told you to relight the fire.” I said, trying to sound firm and stern, which was difficult as my voice was shaking and my teeth were chattering. The man just stood there, arms crossed, glare fixed on me. I grumbled and burrowed under my blankets, preparing to call out mentally to Kerwin. I could only faintly hear his heartbeat and sense his presence, so I knew that while he was in hearing range, he wasn’t in the house. I could tell that Matatias and Celia were with him, wherever he was.

I reached out to pull the rope again, hoping to get another servant to come and light the fire, and I was shocked when I felt hands clamp down on my arm. I yelped in fright as I was dragged out of bed and onto the cold stone floor.

“Kerwin!” I wailed vocally and mentally as the servant dragged me across the room to the fireplace. I sensed Kerwin’s alarm at my frightened call and felt him look in my mind to see what was happening. I felt a surge of rage from him and he began to move towards me.

“I don’t know why the master insists on keeping you here, demon.” the man growled “but I intend to see you gone before he returns home.” I shuddered, from fear and cold, as he produced a knife from somewhere and deeply slashed the wrist that he was holding.

"No, stop!" I sobbed as he slashed my other wrist, before he grabbed me by the hair, pulled my head up and back and slashed my throat.

I cried out weakly, from pain and cold, as he released my hair and let me drop to the floor, and I moaned as the movement sent a wave of pain through my body. I tried to get up and crawl back to my bed, but a foot came down on my back and pushed me back down. I sprawled out on the floor and struggled to rise, but the man shifted his weight, putting almost all of it on me, so I couldn't get up. He used his other foot to kick a few logs into the grate and I cried out when all of his weight came down on my back, making the bones crack painfully. He then took his weight off of me, reached down, grabbed me by the back of my gown, and threw me into the fireplace. I shrieked in terror and tried to crawl out, but he rammed the poker into my chest, pinning me down. He then began to pile kindling on top of me.

"Kerwin!" I felt him still moving closer, but I had a horrifying feeling that he would not make it before the servant set me on fire.

"The master will not save you, monster!" I tried to cry for Kerwin again, but I choked on the ash that had been kicked up. It wouldn't have mattered, as I was rapidly bleeding out and weakening because of it.

"What are you doing?!" A woman's voice sounded in the room, and the man turned away from trying to start a fire my chest to her.

"Help me." I croaked feebly, and the first servant turned back to me and backhanded me. I cried out weakly as I felt my jawbone break under the blow and my head snapped hard to the right.

"Don't speak, vampire!"

"Stop! What are you doing to him!" The woman came into my line of sight and tried to reach for me, but he pushed her back.

"Let me go! Why are you doing this to him!" She struggled to reach me, but he was unmovable. "Someone help me!" I could faintly hear running footsteps coming towards my room, and I whimpered as I was wracked with shivers. I called out mentally for Kerwin again and received assurance that he was almost home, and I noticed how even my mental voice was weak and shaking.

I had been starved for a century, and then fed well for just over a month. I was stronger than I had been, but I was still very ill. Being allowed to bleed out was one of the worst possible things that could have been done to me. My eyes began to sink shut as I slipped into unconsciousness.

"Master Joachim!" I felt myself being shaken, and I whimpered from the pain it caused as I forced my eyes to open a crack to see a few servants kneeling in front of me. Hands grasped hold of me and pulled me from the fireplace, and I closed my eyes and started to slip away. "Master Joachim! You must stay awake!"

I faintly felt the kindling that had been piled up on me being knocked away, and I was gently laid on the rug in front of the fireplace. My ash smeared, blood soaked gown was stripped away, and I broke out in fresh shivers. I felt bandages being wound around my wrists and neck, and I noted dimly in the back of my mind that the wound weren't healing like they should.

"What is going on here!" Kerwin's voice...

"Kerwin..." I managed to whimper before I sank into unconsciousness.


Chapter 3 -- Chapter 5

Back to the AMoS Archive
Back to the Archive